秋風の山をまはるや鐘の声
akikaze no yama o mawaru ya kane no koe


autumn wind
in the mountain echos
a temple bell
—Chiyo-ni


(Tr. David LaSpina)

_{(Nikko Yomei Gate by Tsuchiya Koitsu)}

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Temple bells were a large part of life for everyone in pre-modern Japan, but after becoming a nun and moving into the temple, they would have been even more of a presence in Chiyo-ni's life. In Japanese temples, the temple bell—a large bronze bell that rings with a deep and rich sound that can be heard over considerable distance^†—is used both to mark periods of time and also to call monks for meditation or chanting time.

The last line kane no koe, literally bell's voice, is a clear reference to the Japanese epic Heike Monogatari, A Tale of the Heike. The famous first verse which all Japanese have been memorizing for generations:

祇園精舎の鐘の聲、
諸行無常の響あり。
娑羅雙樹の花の色、
盛者必衰のことわりをあらはす。
おごれる人も久しからず、
唯春の夜の夢のごとし。
たけき者も遂にほろびぬ、
偏に風の前の塵に同じ。

The ring of the bells at Gion temple
echoes the impermanence of all things.
The color of the sala flowers
reveals the truth that to flourish is to fall.
The proud do not endure long
like a passing dream on a spring night.
The mighty fall at last,
like dust in the wind^‡

The central theme of the story is one of the Buddhist idea of the impermanence of things. Life is fleeting. What is here today will be gone tomorrow. The temple bell is an apt metaphor for this idea, as the sound rings and grows, then fades and dies away.

The sound of the temple bell echoing through the mountains as Chiyo-ni journeyed around the temple everyday would have been familiar music.

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Footnotes

†: Wikipedia claims larger temple bells can be heard as far away as 20 miles (32km).
‡: Translation mine.

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Thank you for visiting and reading :)

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	David LaSpina is an American photographer lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time. More?