November 11, 2010

Sound the Bells


This is the rope attached to the shrine bell of Kume Suitengu (see yesterday's post). Many people who come to pray here use this rope to ring the bell. It's a way to announce their presence before their time in prayer.

You can see in the photo bellow that many people have swung this rope around to ring the bell.

There is usually a offering box under the bell, where people toss in their coins. At the shrine the method of prayer after ringing the bell is: toss coin, two bows, two claps, pray, then one last bow.

16 comments:

Tall Gary said...

The top two photos remind me of the Akutagawa Ryunosuke short story—Kumo no Ito「 蜘蛛の糸」 (full story links at bottom), for some reason.

The bottom photo is so evocative of the shrine.

Thank you for the instructions. I have never been clear on those. How about Buddhist temples? No bell, right? Any special clapping and bowing order?

Leif Hagen said...

I remember ringing the bells in various temples - I miss that!
Genki de ne!

B SQUARED said...

Fascinating stuff!

Michael Valčić said...

Great photos! That rope definitely looks worn.

Babzy.B said...

Very interesting post and i like the last photo :) did you ring the bell too ? I like the sound of bells :)

Unknown said...

I've seen the routine of bowing clapping etc, but not the bell and the coin. Good to know... Happy weekend.

cieldequimper said...

This is fantastic. I would love to watch it.

Tall Gary said...

@cieldequimper: You can see this ritual (in Kyoto with shrine music in the background) if you click here.

Anonymous said...

Hope rarely found a more beautiful colour and sound.

Please have a peaceful Friday.

daily athens

Hilda said...

Thank you for this post about the custom, Kaori. I found it very interesting! I like the multi-colored rope too, especially against all the beautiful old wood.

Tall Gary said...

So, unlike at Shinto shrines, no shaking a bell, no clapping, and no bowing at Buddhist temples? Just a coin toss and quiet prayer? (As a rule.)

Kaori said...

Tall Gary, actually a lot of buddhist temples do the clap/bow thing, too. It really all depends on what sect of the religion the shrine or temple is in. Tourist spots will actually have a sign to show you the proper way to pray :-D

arabesque said...

okay, i'll try to remember that ritual, weird thing though, as an
ex-Buddhist, we don't do the clapping and toss coin, but like you said, in every temple/shrine, the rules might be different.
another interesting post kaori. ^0^

Lisergic Synaesthesiae said...

I really like the perspectives you framed here, in particular the fist one.
I'm also impressed to see such nice and 'candy' colours, very very cute! =)

Francisca said...

Great post, Kaori.

xl pharmacy said...

It is impressive the design that even the rope has. I would like to see a bell like that one.

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