This bell is engraved with the following statement:

“The Kingdom of Ryukyu is a splendid place in the South Seas, with close intimate relations with the Three Nations of China, Korea, and Japan, between which it is located, and which express much admiration for these islands. Journeying to various countries by ship, the Kingdom forms a bridge between all the nations, filling its land with the precious goods and products of foreign lands; in addition, the hearts of its people emulate the virtuous civilization of Japan and China.”

Can you imagine the ships of Ryukyu sailing throughout eastern and southeast Asia? But, these words do not just represent their successful trade ventures.

As you could infer from the beginning sentence, “Ryukyu is a beautiful land in the southern sea,” these words were written by a Japanese monk. The story continues, “when the king devoted himself to Buddhism, the country found peace.” It also stated that “this bell was placed in the Seiden hall which sits at the center of Shurijo castle.” You can feel the strong connection between the royal family and Buddhism through these statements.

If you go back in time, you would see that even before the envoys sailed from Tang Dynasty across the sea, the connection between Japan and Ryukyu already existed. Most of them on these ships were monks that would come to “study abroad,” and Buddhism was an aspect of their education.

Many hold the belief that Buddhism was not very common in Ryukyu but that is not particularly the case.

Before becoming the Ryukyu Kingdom, the king of Chuzan was presented with a temple from a Japanese monk, and then this monk went on the spread the teachings of Buddhism. In some ways, this Japanese monk acted as a sort of cultural diplomat. After the birth of the Ryukyu Kingdom, more and more temples were built and the temple you see below, Enkaku-ji, is one of those temples. At these temples, one could study various subjects such as math, philosophy, architecture, art etc. from the Japanese monks residing in these temples.

“The Bridge of Nations Bell” is a result of this kind of cultural exchange, but there are others as well. For example, the words written above the Sonohyan-Utaki stone gate were written with Hiragana. This use of hiragana is said to be connected to the Japanese monks who were here during this time period.

By the way, this Bridge of Nations Bell is actually a replica and the real bell is displayed in the Okinawan Prefectural Museum. It was caught in the fires during the Battle of Okinawa and burned until it was completely black. You can see some traces of gunshot marks as well. You should take some time to check out the original as well.