Kinkaku-ji arson

In the Kinkaku-ji arson incident (Japanese: 金閣寺放火事件, Hepburn: Kinkakuji-hoka-jiken), on 2 July 1950, the novice monk Hayashi Yoken almost destroyed Kinkaku-ji, a Zen Buddhist temple in Kyoto, Japan, and the statue of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu within it. The arson was taken as an incident as serious as the fire in Hōryū-ji in 1949 by the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture. Hayashi later attempted suicide, while his mother killed herself in shame. That December, Hayashi was sentenced to seven years in prison, although he was released due to his deteriorating mental condition and tuberculosis. He died on 7 March 1956. Kinkaku-ji was rebuilt from 1952 to 1955.

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