The Bell of Yonbok Temple is an historic bell which is kept on the upper storey of the Namdae Gate in

Kaesong Kaesong (, ) is a special city in the southern part of North Korea (formerly in North Hwanghae Province), and the capital of Korea during the Taebong kingdom and subsequent Goryeo dynasty. The city is near the Kaesong Industrial Region close t ...

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

. It is listed as number 136 on the list of

National Treasures of North Korea A National Treasure (국보; 國寶 : ) is a tangible artifact, site, or building deemed by the Government of North Korea to have significant historical or artistic value to the country. History The first list of Korean cultural treasures was des ...

and is one of the "three famous bells in the DPRK along with the bells in Sangwon and Pongdok Temples".

Description

The bell is high, thick, has a diameter of at its mouth, and weighs about 14 tons. The bell is covered with figures of tortoises, crabs, dragon, phoenix, deer and a representation of the Buddha. Two dragons on the top of the bell represent the "intrepid spirit". Made in 1346, the bell was moved to the Namdae Gate in 1563 when the Temple burnt down. The decorations on the bell are described by the

KCNA The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) is the state news agency of North Korea. The agency portrays the views of the North Korean government for both domestic and foreign consumption. It was established on December 5, 1946 and now features onlin ...

as "refined, elegant and solemn" and the bell "shows the then high standard of metal casting and metal craft technique of the Korean nation". A series of lines are engraved along the middle of the bell, dividing the upper from the lower part. The bell-hook is fashioned to show two tangled dragons, "wriggling as if they were alive". The bell has an inscription in six scripts, including

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

, Mongolian and

Tibetan Tibetan may mean: * of, from, or related to Tibet * Tibetan people, an ethnic group * Tibetan language: ** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard ** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dial ...

. The lettering invokes peace between Koryo and the Yuan Chinese state. Scholars debate whether the bell was cast by Chinese bellsmiths or if it was forcibly made by Korean craftsmen under pressure from the Mongol invaders as an effort to enforce their subjugation of the Korean state. When rung, the bell can be heard away. The bell was rung to mark the hour for the people of Kaesong until early in the 1900s. The bell was believed to be one of the oldest in the country, dating back to the Koryo period, until one was found in 2002 that was almost 150 years older than it.

References

{{reflist National Treasures of North Korea Bells (percussion)