mom visit: joya no kane
december 31, 2019
>> see all kyoto 2019 posts <<
happy new year to my friends in the west!
we rested for a while after shopping and then around 8 we went to line up for joya no kane. joya no kane is a buddhist nye tradition of ringing a temple bell 108 times to get rid of bad things like desires, anger, obsession, etc. theres one place in japan that’s synonymous with joya no kane and thats chion-in.
chion-in was built in 1234 and is one of the most important buddhist temples in the country. its main gate is the biggest in the nation! each year the temple hosts a HUGE joya no kane celebration, and the main draw is the 74 ton bell (the biggest in japan). it takes 17 monks to ring the bell, and during joya no kane the bell rings 108 times. the bell ringing begins at 10:40 and the 108th ring is just after midnight.
since its so famous it was very crowded and yeah we really did need to line up that early! we didnt even make it to the bell itself until like 11:30! made for a long night but it was definitely worth seeing and hearing.
after that we were supposed to head to yasaka-jinja for hatsumode but the line for that was also off the charts and i would have rather sat in a pool of lava than stand in another line. so instead we went back to the hotel among the massive crowd.
chion-in joya no kane was 14030/10.
