Yukio MISHIMA analyzed the motives behind his conduct and said 'The young man set fire because he had great admiration for beauty of and felt antipathy toward Kinkaku-ji Temple, contrasting his dysphemia and unhappy background,' while Tsutomu MIZUKAMI said, 'He set fire to Kinkaku-ji Temple, which was a symbol of beauty for him, owing to the antilogy of how temples and Buddhism should be.'; however, the truth was in fact never clarified.
これらの中で三島由紀夫は「自分の吃音や不幸な生い立ちに対して金閣における美の憧れと反感を抱いて放火した」と分析し、水上勉は「寺のあり方、仏教のあり方に対する矛盾により美の象徴である金閣を放火した」と分析したが、実際のところ真相は解き明かされる事はなかった。