Chion-in Temple Great Bell Tower

Home of One of Japan's Great Bells

The Chion-in Temple Great Bell Tower (知恩院大鐘楼) is the mid-Edo great bell tower of Chion-in in Rinka-cho, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto City, which in 1997 was designated an Important Cultural Property.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records a single-storey hip-and-gable building three bays square with a traditional tile roof.

Chion-in notes that it was built in 1678 under Gen'yo Manmu, the 38th abbot.

The Tower and the Bell

According to the Agency, it is a hip-and-gable, tiled bell tower three bays square.

Chion-in notes that its bell, 3.3 metres high, 2.8 metres across and weighing about 70 tonnes, was cast in 1636 under Yuyo Reigan, the 32nd abbot.

What to Look For

Chion-in says the bell ranks with those of Hokoji in Kyoto and Todaiji in Nara among Japan's great bells.

It is rung only at the Gyoki memorial for Honen in April and on New Year's Eve, when a team of seventeen, one on the main rope and sixteen on the side ropes, strikes it in a famous winter scene of Kyoto.

Visiting the Chion-in Temple Great Bell Tower

Chion-in says its gates are open 6:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

The temple layout and visiting information are on the Chion-in group page.