Rokuji no kane 六時の鐘ろくじのかね

Six O'Clock Bell

There are two prominent bell towers at Mt. Kōya. One is the bell placed at Kūkai’s directions in the Danjō-garan before the Great Pagoda. The other is the "Six O’Clock Bell," which is mounted on a large stone base located to the west of the entrance to Kongō-buji Temple.

The original bell and tower were erected in the year 1618 by the feudal lord Fukushima Masanori (1561–1624) in memory of his mother. The bell was later recast by Masanori’s son Masatoshi (1601–1637). Temple bells typically bear inscriptions written entirely with Chinese characters; this one is unusual for using a mix of kanji and Japanese kana.

The bell tolls nine times a day beginning at 6:00 am (hence the name) and at every even numbered hour until 10:00 pm. The present-day bell tower is a reconstruction from the year 1835.

If you linger near the Six O'Clock Bell for a while, you might spot some people scanning the spaces between the large stones that make up its base. They will be looking for an iron clamp, known as a kasugai, which is embedded between the rocks. According to a legend, it was left there by a famous outlaw named Ishikawa Goemon. Goemon was a kind of Robin Hood in ninja form whose resistance to the powerful men of his day has made him a folk hero among the Japanese.

Since the clamp was used by carpenters to join pieces of wood together, the superstition is that couples who touch the clamp will develop a stronger bond.

We won’t deprive you of the pleasure (?) of finding the clamp if you want to try. But we do feel compelled to tell you that the association with Goemon is entirely apocryphal: he died in 1594 (boiled to death by Toyotomi Hideyoshi after a failed assassination), which was 24 years before the Six O'Clock Bell was built.

View of the hidden clamp — Clamp (*kasugai*) embedded in wall

KoyaQuest

KoyaQuest

KoyaQuest

Rokuji no kane

KoyaQuest

Rokuji no kane

Rokuji no kane 六時の鐘ろくじのかね

Six O'Clock Bell