Asakusa Bell of Time
Mar 23, 07:50 PM
Share
Subscribe
This is a field recording that I made in 2014 of the ringing of the Senso-ji Temple bell. What is heard is walking on traditional gravel path up to the bell, hearing the monk approach and ring the bell which has been rung at 6:00am for 400 years. During the Edo period at the heritage site of the Senso-ji Temple time was announced with bell chimes.
These were “official” time bells called toki no kane (時の鐘) or “Bells of Time". This was an announcement that people were able to hear far away. The well-known poet Matsuo Bashō, who lived in Fukagawa actually thought he heard it and wrote about it as "sounding through clouds of flowers." A monk still rings this bell every day, at 6 o’clock in the morning. But since the bell is now surrounded by buildings, few people can still hear it.
UNESCO listing: Senso-ji Temple bell
Recorded by China Blue.
IMAGE: Zairon, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
———————
This sound is part of the Sonic Heritage project, exploring the sounds of the world’s most famous sights.
Find out more and explore the whole project: https://www.citiesandmemory.com/heritage
These were “official” time bells called toki no kane (時の鐘) or “Bells of Time". This was an announcement that people were able to hear far away. The well-known poet Matsuo Bashō, who lived in Fukagawa actually thought he heard it and wrote about it as "sounding through clouds of flowers." A monk still rings this bell every day, at 6 o’clock in the morning. But since the bell is now surrounded by buildings, few people can still hear it.
UNESCO listing: Senso-ji Temple bell
Recorded by China Blue.
IMAGE: Zairon, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
———————
This sound is part of the Sonic Heritage project, exploring the sounds of the world’s most famous sights.
Find out more and explore the whole project: https://www.citiesandmemory.com/heritage