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

The bell part is made of nickel and copper alloy, while the prongs and the grip are gilt bronze casted separately. The bell has a three-layered eight-petal lotus flower motif on its shoulder and five ornamental bands round the body, each of which consists of two or three lines with thinner lines beside them. The lower part of the body is significantly wide, with the thick komazume (bottom part along the rim). The Kimoku (ornamental bulges, usually spherical) on the prongs are oblong, decorated with a two-layered eight-petal lotus flowers motif and a double ornamental band. This piece shows the clear characteristics of the Muromachi-period style, such as the wide lower-part, the repetition of the ornamental band, the contracting lines of the side prongs and the formalized shapes of the lotus flowers.