[Editor’s Note: This essay to be posted as sequels is from the second volume of the S/HE journal. See S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies (Volume 2 Number 1, 2023). Page numbers and footnote numbers differ in this page.]
THE TWO BELLS:
THE SANGWONSA BELL AND THE DIVINE BELL
It is unknown how many Sillan bells were cast or lost in the course of history. Only eleven Sillan whale-dragon bells are reportedly extant today.[1] Among them, the smallest comes 72 cm in height and the largest 366 cm in height. Six bells are in Japan, while five bells are in South Korea.[2] Out of the eleven, six of them indicate cast dates. And only five of the eleven remain undamaged. Among those five undamaged ones, three bells are in South Korea.[3] Out of these three, this essay focuses on the two bells, the Sangwonsa Bell cast in 725 and the Divine Bell of Seongdeok the Great cast in 771.
Bell’s Feature and Part Names
The Sillan bell stands out for its original and artistic outlook distinguished from its counterparts of the world. As seen in the figures to follow below, the Sillan bell is adorned with delicate but not overly excessive artistic embellishments, numerologically charged sublime symbols, and female images. These seemingly independent elements – artistic designs, numeric symbolism, and female images – are seamlessly merged to create a complex aesthetic meaning system, which signifies the One Unified Home, the Earth.
A command of metallurgical artistry is visible in both bells. Structurally, the whale-dragon bell comprises three parts: the head, the chest, and the belly (Figure 11).[4] Characteristically, the Dragon Loop and the Dragon Tube are on the head. The four sets of the Nine Nipples, each of which is enclosed by a Breast Circumference, in the chest. In the body, there are designs of the lotus flower for the Striking Seat, Water Nymphs, and the curvilinear patterns on the rims. External apparatuses include the whale-shaped striker (see [Figure 12]), the Echo Cave (鳴洞 Myeongdong), a depressed area under the bell to aid resounding the sonic waves (see [Figure 13]) and the pavilion of the whale-dragon bell (see [Figure 14]).
[Figure 11: Structure and Part Names of the Sillan bell]
(To be continued)
[1] Hyun-Jung Kang, “A Study to Search for the Correlation between Byeonjaecheonnyeo in the Heritage of the Three States with Juakcheoninsang, Heavenly Figures on the Buddhist Bells of the United Silla 삼국유사 소전 변재천녀와 신라범종 ‘주악천인상’의 연관성,” Tamra Munhwa, Vol 57 (2018), 188. The number of extant Sillan bells is debated. Hyeon-Jeong Kim and Su-gi Kim report it as thirteen. See Hyeon-Jeong Kim and Su-gi Kim, “A Review on Treasure,” 359.
[2] About 50 Korean bronze bells are currently in Japan. Many were plundered and taken to Japan throughout history especially in the 13th and 14th century. See “Koreans Bells in Japan,” Jincheon County, accessed March 23, 2023,
[3] Apart from the two bells this essay discusses, the third undamaged extant bell is the Bronze Bell excavated in Uncheong-dong, Cheongju. This bell is about a half-size smaller (78 cm in height) than the Bell of Sangwonsa. Although its designs are noticeably simplified, it follows the standard feature of the Bell of Sangwonsa. It is dated to the mid-9th century.
[4] It is usually introduced as two parts, the head and the body, elsewhere.