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Buddhist priests rehearse tolling the temple’s gigantic 70-ton bell for New Year’s Eve while doing a rhythmic chant at Chionin temple in Kyoto’s Higashiyama Ward on Dec. 27. (Jiro Omura)
KYOTO–The Buddhist priests charged with tolling a gigantic bell here on New Year’s Eve are acutely aware of the heavy responsibility they bear to ring in the New Year right.
They’ll be braving the cold to chime Chionin temple’s 70-ton bell 108 times to mark the coming of the new year.
Just striking it once is a huge challenge. It takes a team of trained people working in tandem to pull it off.
According to Buddhist beliefs, people are born with 108 worldly desires, which cause them pain and suffering. The desires are removed when the bell is struck 108 times.
The crew held a practice run at the temple Dec. 27 to make sure everything goes as planned on the big night.
Seventeen priests chanted rhythmically while sweating to sway an enormous wooden hammer to bong the bell at the rehearsal at the head temple of Jodo Shu (the Pure Land Sect), in Kyoto’s Higashiyama Ward.
A priest hung upside-down gripping the thickest rope tied to the wooden hammer called a “shumoku,” used to toll the bell. Other priests tugged ropes to control the hammer, chanting “Eei hitotsu” (Take one) and “Soore!” (Here we go!).
A somber sound rang out and echoed when the giant bell tolled.
At midnight, people in Japan listen to “joya no kane” bells, which ring out the old year and ring in the new at Buddhist temples across the country.
The Chionin temple bell was cast in 1636 during the Edo Period (1603-1867). It is one of Japan’s three biggest temple bells, measuring 3.3 meters high with a diameter of 2.8 meters.
The priests will begin tolling it at around 10:40 p.m. on New Year’s Eve.
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http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201812280026.html