Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 7.djvu/127

RV 103 has been attributed the gentle rising and falling tone of their boom. It would be curious if experiments should prove that this simple device sufficed to secure results which European bell-founders were at such pains to achieve by accurate composition of metal and strict ratios of dimensions. That the Japanese could not only produce a monster bell of magnificent tone, but were also able to manufacture bells having their consonants in musical sequence, is proved by sixteen bells preserved at Nikkō. Rein writes of these bells that, although exactly alike externally in form and size, they yield distinctly and with the finest effect all the notes of two octaves. It is quite conceivable, however, that these bells were cast in accordance with rules obtained from the Dutch traders at Deshima. No similar bells are found elsewhere in Japan.

The form adopted for the hanging bells of Japan has always been, approximately, that known as "mitre-shaped" in mediæval Europe. Elaborate ornamentation of the surface was not resorted to in the case of large bells. They sometimes carry lines of ideographs cast in low relief,—verses from the sutras, Chinese apothegms, or more or less detailed lists of the names of the donors of the bell and the date of casting,—and in rare cases they have medallions of dragons or phœnixes. Small bells, however, are often elaborately decorated with kylin, shishi (dogs of Fo), figures of angels (ten-jin), and long inscriptions in prose or poetry.

Those that have any knowledge of the difficulties connected with bell hanging in Europe and America, of the trouble of oscillating towers and defective leverage, will be curious to hear how the Japanese