Surely on multiple occasions, although currently less frequent, you have heard the ringing of the bells of some nearby church . This musical instrument that is closely linked to the Christian steeples, was already known by the Egyptians and Asian peoples and later adopted by Greeks and Romans who called them "tintinábulas". Christians used them to transmit messages from their bell towers, whether it was the time they were going to meet or start the mass, how to warn of dangers and make various announcements such as deaths and victories. The bells for centuries they have also been used in the East and in Japan it has been common to hear them in Shinto and Buddhist religious ceremonies. Currently, there is a special type of bells that are known as Japanese Peace Bells and heard throughout the world . Join us to discover what they are and when they were born.
The Japanese Peace Bells
The Western bells they have the cup shape inverted and cupped. It resonates acoustically when it is hit by an implement that hangs in its suspended interior and that receives the name of clapper or uvula. However, the bells of the Eastern world, which can be seen in temples and palaces, are basically different in their functioning. The small ones sound when they are hit with a stick or stick and the big ones they use a kind of beam, called ram , to hit it externally. The larger oriental bells require bell-ringers with great skill because, due to the way they swing, it is easy to damage the towers that sustain them.
Asian bells were brought to the West since the nineteenth century as objects of art and even as trophies of war and have been exhibited in different cities around the world. But it was at the end of the Second World War when they began to know each other Japanese Bells of Peace. During this world conflict, the bells of the Japanese Buddhist temples were melted and the metal used to build military elements such as ship propellers. After the Second World War, new bells were made and restored to their place in the temples, so They received the name of Bells of Peace. The phenomenon spread throughout Japan that baptized its new bells with that name: in 1947 the "Bell of Peace of Hirosima", in 1950 the "Bell of Peace" of Uwajima, etc. But it was not only in Japan, but it came to the whole world and they became a symbol of world peace .
Japan, in 1952, gave away one of these Bells of Peace to the UN that installed it in the gardens of its headquarters in New York. La Campana has become a symbol of Peace for the United Nations that officially plays it twice a year and also on the occasion of special events. It was fused with the collected coins to the attendees of the United Nations Conference held in Paris in 1951. In Japanese characters it has a legend that says: "Live Absolute World Peace".
In 1982, an association called "World Peace Bell Association" was founded in Tokyo, which places bells all over the world. He has already placed 21 in 15 countries around the world.
Had you heard about the Japanese Peace Bells ? Is there any in your country? What do you think about the initiative? We await your comments! We also invite you to read the post: What is the origin of the symbol of peace of 1958?
Image: Rodsan18