KVPT’s Patan Darbar Earthquake Response Campaign - Work to Date - September 2016

of the iconic monuments of the country, said to be the
oldest extant wooden structure on earth, it was dismantled
for repair in 1934. On 26 January 1949 the core
structure with its 28 columns, brackets and cross beams
were exposed to fire for a few hours, charring the surface
to a depth of three centimeters. The preservation of the
seventh-century building components was considered
so important that they were consolidated with synthetic
resin and moved to a fire-proof shelter, while the hall
received replacements. The storehouse preserves these
columns in their original configuration as if this profane
building were a shrine. The charred fragments obviously
constituted the identity of the much revered monument
and as such they are kept in close proximity to the replacements.
They are not displayed for the public, but
kept enshrined as if representing the priceless grail, the
origin of the country’s built heritage. Only on rare occasions
are professionals granted access to them in an act of
guarded secrecy (Fig. 9).
Rebuilding after dismantling (1898–1908) and
reconstruction after loss in fire (1952–1953) of
the Kinkaku-ji temple in Kyoto, Japan
A prominent example of contested identity discusses
the reconstructions of the Kinkaku-ji (“Golden Pavilion
Temple,” officially called Rokuon-ji, “Deer Garden
Temple”)—widely recognized as the expression of something
quintessentially Japanese. Built in the fourteenth
century, the temple constitutes one of the first national
treasures (Jap. kokuhō) according to the Law for the
Preservation of Ancient Shrines and Temples of 1897. It
was totally dismantled in 1908 and painstakingly reassembled.
The temple was gutted by fire in 1952 (Fig. 10)
and subsequently reconstructed, based on the detailed
measurements of every timber element done in 1908.
Having lost its material authenticity, the new structure
(Jap. saiken) was no longer considered a national treasure
and subsequently delisted (Fig. 11).
When thirteen sites in Kyoto were inscribed in the World
Heritage list in 1994 as a collective entry, the Rokuon-ji
garden was included, but without the Kinkaku-ji, the
prominent landmark of the garden. As a replica of the
lost temple, the forty-year-old structure was considered
inauthentic in terms of the World Heritage Conservation
Guidelines. The Japanese authorities elected not to
enter into a debate about the values inherent in the basically
occidental term of “Authenticity”.
Thoughts about the originality of the present temple,
or rather the authenticity of its reconstruction, were put
forward by the author Douglas Adams (1952–2001).
Adams must have visited the Kinkaku-ji in the early
1990s, because in 1992 he recalls his visit in Last Chance
to See and presents an anecdote that illustrates Theseus’
paradox in a Japanese context.
Adams recalls how he was “mildly surprised at quite how
well it had weathered the passage of time since it was
first built in the fourteenth century.” He was told “it
hadn’t weathered well at all, and had in fact been burnt
to the ground twice in this century.” He realized that it
was not “the original building,” but his guide, not being
acquainted with the doctrine of conservation, insisted
that it would always be “the same building.” The author
continues: “I had to admit to myself that this was
in fact a perfectly rational point of view, it merely started
from an unexpected premise. The idea of the building,
the intention of it, its design, are all immutable and are
the essence of the building. The intention of the original
builders is what survives. The wood of which the design
is constructed decays and is replaced when necessary. To
be overly concerned with the original materials, which
are merely sentimental souvenirs of the past, is to fail to
see the living building itself.”
Adams’ words pinpoint the issue of material authenticity
better than any essay by a conservation professional
aiming at a denial of the identity of the temple. Adams
does stretch his point somewhat by qualifying “original
material” as a “sentimental souvenir of the past.” But in
9, 10
Kyoto, Kinkaku-ji. Revered as a
priceless symbol of Japaneseness,
the temple was lost to fire in 1952
and faithfully reconstructed in the
following year. The garden was
listed as World Heritage but the
temple excluded as an inauthentic
replica.
Photographs public domain and N.
Gutschow, 1997
35