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

This is a distinct type of Buddhist bell that was cast with deities on its body, like Wisdom Kings or the Four Heavenly Kings. Those with Wisdom Kings like this one are called “Wisdom King bells.” Such bells are thought to have originated during China’s Tang dynasty (618–907), with surviving examples dating from the Tang to Song dynasty (960–1279). In this example, Four Wisdom Kings are cast in relief on the bell’s body: Gundari (Skt. Kuṇḍali), Gozanze (Skt. Trailokyavijaya), Kongōyasha (Skt. Vajrayakṣa) and Daiitoku (Skt. Yamāntaka). The bell itself represents the Wisdom King Fudō (Skt. Acalanātha). The iconographies, however, differ from those described as having been brought to Japan by the priest Enchin (posthumous title Chishō Daishi; 814–891 in the Bessonzakki, a 12th-century compendium of Buddhist iconographies, and scholars are divided as to which deities are actually represented.

The spaces between the deities are filled with dotted patterning and incised flowers. The bell’s body has a shallow curve that tapers slightly toward the mouth, the rim of which is rendered like an eight-petaled flower. The bell is richly decorated. The grip in the center of the handle has eight oval “demon eyes” around it surrounded by different types of raised bands and complicated lotus petal patterns above and below. The central prong of the five prongs at the tip of the handle is octagonal, with a raised ridge along each edge. The surrounding prongs emerge from the mouths of dragons to curve back in on themselves sharply in a wrathful appearance. There are small holes between the central prong and two of the side prongs, suggesting an intriguing connection with esoteric ritual tools that held relics of the buddha Śākyamuni which are described in a list of objects the Shingon patriarch Kūkai (774–835 ) brought back from China.