A Belfry from the Late Kamakura Period
The Bell Tower of Bannaji (鑁阿寺鐘楼, also written Banna-ji Shōrō), located in the Iedomicho district of Ashikaga City, Tochigi Prefecture, is a late Kamakura-period belfry designated an Important Cultural Property on 1 August 1908. It stands in the northwestern part of the temple compound, within the same moated and embanked enclosure that once formed the residential estate of the Ashikaga warrior family.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates the structure to the late Kamakura period, a span running from 1275 to 1332. Temple tradition places the first bell tower here in 1196, contemporary with the founding buildings, and holds that the present structure is a rebuilding. When that rebuilding happened has not been established. Ashikaga City states plainly in its own heritage listing that the date is unknown, which is a more useful admission than a confident guess.
What can be dated is the designation. The bell tower and the Main Hall were listed together on the same day in 1908, under the old Ancient Shrines and Temples Preservation Law. The two have been paired in the record ever since, though only the Main Hall was later raised to National Treasure.
Reading the Form
The tower measures three bays along its length and two across, carries a hip-and-gable roof of formal ceramic tile, and rests on a flared boarded skirt known as a hakamagoshi. That skirt is the feature to fix on. It encloses the lower level in an outward-sloping wall, so the building tapers upward from a broad base, and the visual weight sits low. The bell chamber above is left open on all four sides.
The combination of a flared skirt with a genuinely medieval date is uncommon. Most belfries of this type across Japan are considerably later, which is part of why this one carries the designation it does.
Why It Was Designated
The value cited by Ashikaga City rests on the detailing rather than the outline. The nosings at the beam ends and the bracket complexes both show the characteristics of Zenshūyō, the Chinese-derived manner introduced through Zen monasteries in Kamakura from around the thirteenth century. The city's assessment describes the building as an unusual and valuable survival in which those Kamakura-period Zen-style traits appear clearly across the form and the joinery alike.
That places the bell tower in the same conversation as the Main Hall a short walk away. Bannaji is a Shingon temple with no doctrinal connection to Zen, yet its medieval buildings absorbed the newest imported style available to builders of the period. The Main Hall shows the process at the scale of a major hall, with the plan kept conventional and the bracketing renewed. The bell tower shows it at the scale of a small utility structure, where there was no ceremonial reason to reach for anything fashionable.
Seen together, the two buildings suggest that the style was not an occasional flourish at Bannaji but the working vocabulary of whoever was building here.
The Bell Itself
The bell hanging at the center is not medieval. It is an Edo-period recasting, produced in the Tenmyō casting tradition centered on Sano in the same prefecture. Tenmyō metalwork has a long reputation, particularly for tea kettles, and its output was traded well beyond the province. A recast bell in a thirteenth-century tower is a normal outcome: bronze bells were melted down, cracked, or reissued far more often than the timber structures that housed them survived.
Because the upper level is open on all four sides, the bell is plainly visible from the ground without any special access. Look for the lotus-petal band at the striking point and the raised bosses across the shoulder, features that recur on Japanese temple bells and give the surface its texture.
Visiting
Of the three designated buildings at Bannaji, the bell tower is the easiest to see properly. The precinct is maintained as a city park called Dainichi-en, admission is free, and the tower can be examined from several angles without any booking. Grounds access generally runs from around 9:00 to 16:00.
Come in from the south gate and the bell tower sits to your left, past the Main Hall. Walk around it. The skirt reads differently from each side depending on how the light falls across the boarding, and the underside of the bell chamber, where the bracketing does its work, is best seen from close in and looking up.
Photography is permitted in the precinct. Morning light is kinder here, as it is elsewhere on the site: the western buildings fall into backlight through the afternoon.
Access is straightforward. JR Ryōmō Line Ashikaga Station is about ten minutes on foot, Tōbu Ashikaga-shi Station about fifteen. Drivers exit the Kita-Kantō Expressway at Ashikaga Interchange, roughly ten to fifteen minutes away, and free tourist parking is available at the Taiheiki-kan facility. The temple can be contacted on 0284-41-2627.
Bells at Japanese temples are struck on New Year's Eve in the observance called joya no kane, and belfries that are quiet for most of the year come into use then. Anyone in Ashikaga at the turn of the year will find the compound busy. The other fixed date worth knowing is the night of Setsubun in early February, when the Yoroi Toshikoshi armor procession is held here.
The Ashikaga School lies a few minutes to the southeast, and the two sites are usually walked together.
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Q&A
- Can visitors see the Bell Tower of Bannaji, and is there an admission charge?
- Yes. The bell tower stands in the open precinct, which is maintained as a public park and costs nothing to enter. No reservation is needed and the structure can be viewed from all sides. Grounds access is generally available from around 9:00 to 16:00.
- When was the Bell Tower of Bannaji built and when was it designated?
- The Agency for Cultural Affairs assigns it to the late Kamakura period, 1275 to 1332. It was designated an Important Cultural Property on 1 August 1908, the same day as the Main Hall. Temple tradition traces the first belfry on the site to 1196, with the present structure a later rebuilding of undetermined date.
- Is the bell inside the Bell Tower of Bannaji the original one?
- No. The bell now hanging there is an Edo-period recasting produced in the Tenmyō casting tradition of Sano in Tochigi Prefecture. The timber structure is medieval; the bell it holds is not.
- What is the flared lower section of the Bell Tower of Bannaji called?
- A hakamagoshi, a boarded skirt that slopes outward and encloses the lower level, named for its resemblance to the pleated hakama garment. Above it, the bell chamber is open on all four sides. Medieval examples of this belfry type are relatively few.
- How do I reach the Bell Tower of Bannaji by train?
- Take the JR Ryōmō Line to Ashikaga Station, about ten minutes on foot, or the Tōbu Isesaki Line to Ashikaga-shi Station, about fifteen minutes on foot. Both stations are roughly two hours from central Tokyo depending on connections. Enter the compound through any of the four gates; the bell tower is in the northwestern part of the grounds.
Basic Information
| Name | Bannaji Shōrō (鑁阿寺鐘楼), Bell Tower of Bannaji Temple |
|---|---|
| Location | Iedomicho, Ashikaga City, Tochigi Prefecture |
| Designation | Important Cultural Property |
| Year Designated | 1 August 1908 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Three bays by two bays; flared boarded skirt (hakamagoshi); hip-and-gable roof with formal ceramic tile |
| Owner | Bannaji Temple |
| Public Access | Viewable from the precinct at any time during opening hours, without charge |
References
- National Database of Designated Cultural Properties, Agency for Cultural Affairs: Bannaji Shōrō
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/102/267
- Cultural Heritage Online: Bannaji Shōrō
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/121277
- Ashikaga City Official Website: Bannaji Shōrō
- https://www.city.ashikaga.tochigi.jp/education/000029/000169/000627/p001276.html
- Ashikaga City Tourism Association: Bannaji
- https://www.ashikaga-kankou.jp/spot/bannaji
- Tochigi Tabi Net (Tochigi Prefecture Tourism Association): Bannaji
- https://www.tochigiji.or.jp/spot/s12531/
Last verified: 2026.07.29