Thank you all for visiting us at Shunkoin temple today. My name is Takafumi Kawakami, and I am the vice abbot here, one of the subtemples of Myoshin-ji.

So I would like you to explore “gold” here on your journey today, but before that I will explain a bit more about Shunkō-in as I guide you around the temple grounds.

The first thing I would like to introduce is one of the most important treasures of Shunkō-in temple, the bell of Nanban-ji.

Some may ask, why is there a Christian bell in a Zen temple in Kyoto? In all honesty, we don’t know the full story ourselves. At one point in time, Christianity was a forbidden religion. In an effort to enforce this provision, all documents related to it were destroyed.

Even so, why would this bell be in Shunkō-in? That is because it was moved here before the suppression of Christianity. It is said that the bell was originally placed at Nanban-ji, a temple that held the patronage of Oda Nobunaga. However, when Christianity was forbidden, Nanban-ji was destroyed and the bell was moved from place to place until 1852 when it was said to have been moved from Ninna-ji temple to Shunkō-in.

Let’s take a look at the motifs on the surface of the bell. Can you see the characters that read “IHS?” This is a symbols of Jesus Christ that has its origins in the Greek pronunciation of his name. Around these letters you will also see a cross within the sun. Below this, there are three nails; one represents the nail in the legs, and two for each one placed in the hands of Christ on the cross. The numbers 1577 represent the year in which this bell was made. Many people believe this bell was made in Portugal, but recent studies point to the possibility of Japanese origins. This bell is thicker and heavier than other bells, weighing 136 lbs (62 kg), leading some to believe that the bell was made with Japanese casting techniques.

However, this bell has faced more crises than just religious prohibition. At one point, the Japanese military collected all large metal objects, including bells, for use as weapons during World War II. They also came to Shunkō-in, but my grandfather, Ryuzan Kawakami, concealed the bell within a wine cask and hid it in a bamboo grove. If you think about it, it’s quite the miracle that you have been able to come in contact with this bell at all. It is also said that a symbol of Christ is hidden in the Birds and Flowers Fusuma housed in Shunkō-in as well, but we will tell you more about this in a later section.