It is said that this book is inspired by the fact that a monk burned kinkaku ji. Yukio and the main character share similar personality, which is destroying if not getting it. Kinkaku ji here resembles truth, virtue and beauty. The whole book centers the relationship of the main character and kinkaku ji, from hearing others talk about the temple, to living in the temple, from fascinating the temple to destroying the temple. This kind of theme is quite common in Japanese literature but I don't like it.