Dotaku (Bronze Bell) with Flowing-Water Pattern

• Height: 46.1cm
• Yayoi Period (Circa B.C. 1st Century)
• Excavation site: Akeshi Sushiro Shrine, Kyoto
• Important Art Object
• JK 232
• Kyoto National Museum

Ceremonial bronze bells (dotaku) were kept buried in hillside santuaries away from everyday village life and were brought out only for use in certain agricultural rituals. Dotaku and their molds have been found in the Kinai (Kyoto-Osaka) district and the coastal region of the Inland Sea. The flowing-water (or maze) pattern on this specimen, also found on pottery of the area, is a characteristic design motif of the mid-Yayoi Period.