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context: gardens > dry gardens
Ginkaku-ji
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The building is known as the Silver Pavillion, despite the fact that the planned silver plating never happened. The large gravel mountain is a striking feature. The garden was built in the late 15th Century by Zenami, an extraordinary garden designer who was a member of the despised 'riverbank workers' caste - called this because riverbank land was not owned by anyone, and so was the only place these destitute outcasts could live. This group had worked as garden labourers for generations, and some had built up sufficient expertise that by now their greatest talent could be employed by the shogun for a major project such as this.