«?S Prehistoric Bronze Bells from Japan. 



together drawings of several tens of these copper bells, and 

 made them into a volume, which he offered as a basis for 

 speculation (about these bell8). Unfortunately, however, these 

 were not engraved on blocks, and so there are at present very 

 few persons to whom (copies of) this volume have descended. 

 Just now there is no lack of persons who are in possession of 

 these copper bells. They are frequently sold at the old utensil 

 shops in the three cities (Yedo, Kioto, and Osaka), and their 

 price, too, is not excessively dear, which is a proof of the 

 numbers that have been dug - up. The articles that have been 

 handed down from antiquity in my country (i. e., Japan) are of 

 three kinds, — stoneware, earthenware, and copper arms. The 

 stone articles found are: raifu,* stone swords, flint arrow- 

 heads, etc. ; among the earthenware, sacred jars ;t and among 

 the copper ones, small round bells (sudzu), copper swords, and 

 copper bells (like the present). Constant inquiry has from 

 olden times been set on foot by Japanese literati with regard 

 to these various articles, but still, down to the present time, 

 there has not been found any one able to give clear explana- 

 tions either as to their age, their owners, or the purposes for 

 which they were used. My own opinion is that the one point 

 to be investigated over and above these, is the single question 

 as to whether such articles as these do or do not exist in 

 countries beyond our own seas, and especially in China, Corea, 

 Manchuria, etc. If inquiry be made into my reason for this, 

 it is that supposing, in those other countries, there should 

 exist similar articles, then this would afford a proof of the 

 common origin of the ancestors of those nations and of our 

 own. I have not, however, been able as yet to effect this 

 search, and this is a matter for which I feel constant regret. 

 I have heard that in Yokohama some learned foreign gentle- 

 men have established a Society for the purpose of investigat- 

 ing Asiatic antiquities, and I think that some decisive conclu- 

 sion may be arrived at by that Society with respect to the 

 above three kinds of articles. I consequently now beg the 

 kind offices of the English Minister, Sir Harry S. Parkes, and 

 send to the Society a copper bell that has been kept .in my 

 possession for a long time, with the desire of inviting discus- 

 sion thereon. Should the various gentlemen belonging to the 

 Society hold any opinions on the subject, let them be so good 

 as to make them known. If, in consequence of their exertions, 

 it come to pass that we obtain some basis for ascertaining the 

 place from which the ancestors of the Japanese people origin - 



* Evidently a kind of axe. 



t Apparently those used at Shinto festivals. 



