Japanese Bell Dedication Ceremony

New Year's Day
Jan. 1, 2024 | 1:30-2:00pm (Eastern)

U.S. National Arboretum

National Bonsai & Penjing Museum Courtyard
3501 New York Ave. NE
Washington, D.C. 20002

Hear the resonant tolls of a sacred Japanese temple bell cast in 1798 ring out for the first time at the U.S. National Arboretum. The bell, a gift from the National Bell Festival, will be dedicated and installed in the central courtyard of the three pavilions and special exhibits gallery that comprise the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum. The event will feature a traditional Zen Buddhist blessing and a ceremonial ringing of the bell. Speakers will include:

Richard T. Olsen | Director, U.S. National Arboretum
Paul Ashe | Director, National Bell Festival

An old bell finds a new home.

The hanshō, or Buddhist temple bell, was cast in the ninth month of Kansei 10 (1798) by Katō Jinemon from Yokokawa, who came from a family of bell makers in the area of present-day Hachiōji, west of the Tokyo metropolitan area. Their foundry was near the Zen monastery and temple Daisen (also called Daisenji in respect), for which the bell was cast. A monk named Myōdō led a fundraising campaign for the bell's casting. It stands 27 inches tall and weighs 80 lbs.

The Daisen monastery no longer exists. It was located in the Amema village in the Tama district of the province of Musashi. As is true of many Edo-period villages, the names of locations have changed, but the location corresponds to Amema, Akiruno City, Tokyo 197-0825. In 1868, the monastery was incorporated with another temple complex named Jōfukuji, which also no longer exists.

The bell is inscribed in classical Japanese across three ikenomachi, or panels, which detail the particulars of its casting. It includes the phrase:

One strike permeates all things. How could it be said the strike is slight, when it is heard without fail?

Cover image: Bonsai on display within the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum at the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington, D.C.

What is a hanshō?

Hanshō are stationary clapper-less signaling bells hung in Buddhist temples throughout Japan. Like the larger bonshō, hanshō are hung mouth-down and remain motionless. A wooden beam or handheld mallet is swung to sound the bell, which indicates the time and calls monks to prayer. In earlier days, hanshō also gave service as fire alarms in village watch towers.

It is said the sloping shoulders and flat base of a hanshō emulate the seated posture of Buddha. As such, the bells are accorded utmost reverence. Casting the temple bell is also a sacred event, with sprigs of hallowed mulberry, gold offerings, and papers containing Buddhist prayers tossed into the molten bronze.

During World War II, an ordinance to collect metals was decreed throughout Japan. To feed its war machine and keep its armies outfitted, Japan needed vast quantities of industrial materials – and like plucking fruit from a tree, they turned to peaceable, defenseless bell towers. An estimated 70,000 bells (approximately 90% of the temple bells then in existence) were destroyed and smelted into armament.

Today, bonshō and hanshō maintain their sacred place in Japanese society and have become internationally-recognized symbols of peace and diplomacy.

Section image: A Buddhist monk wearing saffron-dyed robes walks toward the hanshō at Chishaku-in temple in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto, Japan.

About the U.S. National Arboretum

Established in 1927 by an Act of Congress, the U.S. National Arboretum stretches across 451 acres in northeastern Washington, D.C. With a mission to increase the aesthetic, environmental, and economic importance of landscape and ornamental plants, the Arboretum curates picturesque gardens and exhibits, funds long-term botanical research, and leads conservation programs. It is also home to an extensive herbarium, the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum, the National Grove of State Trees, and 22 Corinthian columns which were once part of the east portico of the U.S. Capitol.

Section image: Twenty-two columns removed from the U.S. Capitol rise from a knoll at the U.S. National Arboretum in autumn.

Japanese Bell Dedication Ceremony

An old bell finds a new home.

Register to attend

What is a hanshō?

About the U.S. National Arboretum