Ginkaku-ji

This guide to Ginkaku-ji in Kyoto follows Ashikaga Yoshimasa, the eighth Ashikaga shogun, as he abandons a capital tearing itself apart in the Onin War to build a retirement villa in the Higashiyama hills in the 1460s, modeled on his grandfather's gold pavilion but meant to be covered in silver. It traces the decades-long construction and the tea room where Yoshimasa spent his final years. Beside the pavilion, look for the raked cone of white sand built to catch moonlight.