National Treasures & Important Cultural Properties
of National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, Japan

A Nyō is a bell with a shaft, one of the instruments for ritual prayers (shūhō-gu). It is thought to have been used originally in the context of the Mixed Esoteric Buddhism (Zo-mitsu) or the syncretism of Shinto and Buddhism (Shinbutsushūgō), since it had been used even before orthodox Esoteric Buddhism was imported in the Heian period. As for the role it played in the rituals, the nyō is thought to be a predecessor of vajra bells (kongō rei) used in Esoteric Buddhism. This nyō is rather simply designed, with the only conspicuous decoration being a wide band running through the center of the bell. The shaft has a hole at its bottom end, through which a red string is threaded. This piece is of an old style as a nyō, thus thought by many to be made in the Nara period, although some think that it was made in the Heian period. The Pictures of the Treasures (a catalogue of the Hōryūji Treasures) refers to it simply as "a nyō of ancient times."