Talk:Kinkaku-ji arson
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Did you know nomination
- The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.
The result was: promoted by RoySmith talk 18:52, 4 May 2025 (UTC)
- ... that before burning down a golden Buddhist temple, the arsonist secretly removed one nail, then reinserted it, then removed it again?
- Source: Utsumi, Takeshi (30 June 2020). 金閣を焼かなければならぬ 林養賢と三島由紀夫 (in Japanese). Kawade Shobō Shinsha.
- Reviewed: Template:Did you know nominations/Camellia (musician)
- Comment:
As the citations were mostly ripped off the jawiki version, I cannot put the text where the information came from. Considering the article is GA in Jawiki (meaning it has been reviewed), I am assuming all citations are correct. Rusalkii provided me with a nice hook :)
AlphaBetaGamma (Talk/report any mistakes here) 00:42, 5 April 2025 (UTC).
I'd like to see the {{clarify}} tags dealt with. I'd also like to see what the significance of the thing with the nail was, if the sources contain anything that helps explain it. Otherwise everything seems fine. AGF on the sources, Ich spreche kein Japanisch. Apocheir (talk) 01:10, 16 April 2025 (UTC)
- Clarify tags should be dealt with (see article talk page for context), is it a requirement that anything going on DYK has to be, really significant? AlphaBetaGamma (Talk/report any mistakes here) 09:56, 24 April 2025 (UTC)
Approved now that the clarify tags are resolved. I think it's a really good hook, I was just curious if there was any explanation why he did that. Apocheir (talk) 16:47, 24 April 2025 (UTC)
Per WP:DYKHFC, there has to be a footnote at the end of the sentence backing up the claim made in the hook. Please fix. @AlphaBetaGamma and Apocheir: Ping. Cielquiparle (talk) 12:15, 27 April 2025 (UTC)
- Footnote has been added. Apocheir (talk) 17:13, 27 April 2025 (UTC)
- @Cielquiparle: I assume this is good to go now? RoySmith (talk) 21:30, 1 May 2025 (UTC)
- Removed the ? symbol though I still see one paragraph that doesn't end with a citation. Cielquiparle (talk) 21:57, 1 May 2025 (UTC)
- Removed the sentence because the editor who added it doesn't look like they are sourcing them anytime soon. AlphaBetaGamma (Talk/report any mistakes here) 12:41, 4 May 2025 (UTC)
"Clarify" tags
@User:AlphaBetaGamma, as you commented that you didn't understand the [clarification needed] tags I'll try to make them clear here:
"Hayashi stood up and denied the claim. He was determined to have full responsibility after months of investigation" - it's not clear if "determined" was a verb or adjective here. It might mean "the court decided that Hayashi was the sole criminal", or (give the previous sentence) "Hayashi really wanted to take the blame".
"In Hachioji, he refused to take anything given by the prison, with the exception of a single bread and 360ml of milk given by a nurse." - surely he had more than a single loaf of bread and glass of water in the time he was there.
"committees insisted on rebuilding Kinkaku-ji in the same way as it was originally built." - I wasn't sure if "original" meant before the arson, or when Kinkaku-ji was first built; your edit fixes the issue.
"Since Kinkaku-ji had been modified over the 500 years of history, several changes took place to restore the very original version. In 1987, the gold leaf on the pavilion was made five times thicker. The incident is not mentioned in the official website of the temple." - I wasn't sure what "very original" meant, as above. "The incident" isn't clear to me either - is it the arson, or the new gold leaf?
I hope that explains the issue - if there's anything else I can help with, please let me know, and I'll do my best. CohenTheBohemian (talk) 13:33, 16 April 2025 (UTC)
- @CohenTheBohemian About the 2nd part, jawiki states "毎食、彼女が与えるパン1個・牛乳2合・砂糖だけは摂取していた"
- This literally translates to that sentence. (I did forget to mention the sugar though.)
- Not sure how to fix the 1st issue, for the context I meant "He wanted to take the blame, unlike his lawyers who claimed he was mentally unstable and cannot be charged".
- AlphaBetaGamma (Talk/report any mistakes here) 13:34, 18 April 2025 (UTC)
- I'm just going to edit the first one myself.
- For the second, the sentence currently means (in context) "From the time he entered the prison in 1953 to the time he was released in 1955, he ate only a single loaf of bread, sugar, and 360ml of milk." I think it should be something like: "with the exception of a single loaf of bread, some sugar, and a glass of milk given daily by a particular nurse". (The emphasis seems to be that he trusted his particular nurse, or that only they were able to get him to eat.
- The aftermath section is pretty vague and I'm not sure what the point is. CohenTheBohemian (talk) 04:23, 20 April 2025 (UTC)
- That's a simplified translation of the section from jawiki. AlphaBetaGamma (Talk/report any mistakes here) 22:56, 20 April 2025 (UTC)
- @CohenTheBohemian What sentences are especially vague on the aftermath section? AlphaBetaGamma (Talk/report any mistakes here) 13:22, 21 April 2025 (UTC)
- I do have to say that the section is now clearer than it was when I first edited it, so thanks for your work. I'm thinking of this section:
- "Since Kinkaku-ji had been modified over its 500 year history, several changes took place to restore it to the condition it had been in when first built. In 1987, the gold leaf on the pavilion was made five times thicker. The arson incident is not mentioned on the temple's official website."
- Overall, I can't see any connection between these sentences, so perhaps they should be separated into new paragraphs. Second, what changes were made? An example might be nice. Third, how is the gold leaf related to the fire? If not, this sentence might be better on the Golden Temple's page. Last, the final sentence seems to be implying some kind of coverup. If not, and there's no context, maybe it should be cut?
- I hope I don't seem like I'm complaining about trifles. Let me know if I can help. CohenTheBohemian (talk) 15:09, 21 April 2025 (UTC)
- Good point I guess, I'll cut the gold leaf mention later (likely was mentioned on jawiki because it had something to do with the original version) For the changes, I simply got stuck thinking of a way to mention them correctly without messing up, making the thing really vague. AlphaBetaGamma (Talk/report any mistakes here) 01:04, 22 April 2025 (UTC)
- @CohenTheBohemian, as for the "may be implying coverup" part, I am pretty sure that's the intention of the thing, but I'm also pretty sure adding "this may be an attempt to cover up the incident" is going to hit NOR. I've tried my best for the rest. AlphaBetaGamma (Talk/report any mistakes here) 14:23, 22 April 2025 (UTC)
- That looks a lot better to me. And yes, good call there.
- I added a bit about the novel - can't believe I forgot to mention it earlier - do fix anything or add citations if needed. CohenTheBohemian (talk) 15:04, 22 April 2025 (UTC)
- Well, I did pull out a source for one of the claims but I have no idea what to do when the novel's plot needs to be cited. AlphaBetaGamma (Talk/report any mistakes here) 12:51, 23 April 2025 (UTC)
- Thanks for that. The cite is just to show that it was based on the actual arson, rather than being imagined. The Encyclopaedia calls it "A fictionalized account of the actual torching of a temple by a disturbed Buddhist acolyte", which is good enough for me. According to one of the other pages Mishima even interviewed Hayashi when he was imprisoned. Anyway, I don't think there's much else I can add here. CohenTheBohemian (talk) 13:19, 23 April 2025 (UTC)
- Well, I did pull out a source for one of the claims but I have no idea what to do when the novel's plot needs to be cited. AlphaBetaGamma (Talk/report any mistakes here) 12:51, 23 April 2025 (UTC)
- Good point I guess, I'll cut the gold leaf mention later (likely was mentioned on jawiki because it had something to do with the original version) For the changes, I simply got stuck thinking of a way to mention them correctly without messing up, making the thing really vague. AlphaBetaGamma (Talk/report any mistakes here) 01:04, 22 April 2025 (UTC)
The nail
Two other users have removed this text from the article, calling it "irrelevant" or "unimportant":
On 10 June 1950, Hayashi secretly removed a nail from the Kinkaku-ji, then replaced it on 24 June, removing it again on 28 June.[1]
They also took shots at it when the related hook was on DYK (and made a lot of baseless accusations). To me this was intriguing even if the significance of the action wasn't spelled out. I know User:AlphaBetaGamma is on break right now, so getting any elaboration will have to wait unless another Japanese-literate editor who has access to the sources suddenly appears. @Rusalkii: you suggested this hook, what do you think of this criticism? Apocheir (talk) 22:48, 12 May 2025 (UTC)
- I think the nail(s) is confusing without further context, also it would be reassuring to know that an en Wikipedia editor had checked the source.
- According to the novel The Temple of the Golden Pavilion (via Google books) the narrator finds an "old wooden door", which he is able to remove by removing several nails and thus enter the temple. He removes and replaces a couple of nails as a test.[2] Obviously a novel is not a reliable source. TSventon (talk) 00:11, 13 May 2025 (UTC)
- I have no context other than what's in the article, so I don't know how much weight the sources put on it and hence whether it's due weight. If jumped out to me as weird and interesting in exactly the kind of way that works well for DYK, but I also commented that it'd be even better if there was context for why he'd done this, and I also don't read Japanese to try and find out more. So I am not really well equipped to go to bat for it unfortunately. Rusalkii (talk) 05:56, 13 May 2025 (UTC)
References
- ^ Utsumi 2020, p. 20.
- ^ Mishima, Yukio (2001). The Temple of the Golden Pavilion. Translated by Morris, Ivan. Vintage. p. 225. ISBN 9780099285670.
