page_title: Dōtaku
section_title: Appearance
hierarchical_section_title: Dōtaku / Appearance
caption_attribution_description: English: Japan, Yayoi period, circa 2nd century Sculpture Bronze Mr. and Mrs. Allan C. Balch Fund (M.58.9.3) Japanese Art Currently on public view: Pavilion for Japanese Art, floor 3
context_page_description: Dōtaku are Japanese bells smelted from relatively thin bronze and richly decorated.
  Dotaku were used for about 400 years, between the second century B.C. and the second century C.E., and were nearly only used as decorations for rituals. They were richly decorated with patterns representing nature and animals, among which the dragonfly, praying mantis and spider are featured. Historians believe that dōtaku were used to pray for good harvests, as the animals featured are natural enemies of insect pests that attack paddy fields.
  According to Japanese folklore, dōtaku were used as emergency bells; intended especially in cases of invasion, particularly invaders from the Korean peninsula. When sentinels spotted invaders, they loudly rang the dōtaku as an alarm, so that people could hide themselves or their possession, and to alert warriors to prepare themselves to repel the enemy.
  There is a dotaku museum devoted to the bells in Yasu city, in Shiga prefecture, in central Japan.
  Media related to Dotaku at Wikimedia Commons
context_section_description: Physically, the body of a dotaku consists of "a truncated cone shape" with an oval cross-section and "has rows of horizontal bands divided in the center by a vertical row". Arching and extending over the top and the sides of the body is an "elaborate flange filled with sawtooth design and projecting spirals". The materials used for dotaku came from both Korea and China since "bronze resources were not found until the 7th century", thus bronze was considered more precious than iron. In addition, researchers have detected lead traces inside the bells, which was a common characteristic of Chinese metals. These Yayoi bells vary in height ranging from 4 inches to 50 inches, approximately 10 cm to 127 cm. In conjunction with the varying height, the styles of the bells also varied greatly. Across several regions, this scattered production continued until a group of bronze-smiths congregated and decided on a standard.
caption: Dotaku (bell-shaped bronze), Yayoi period, 2nd-1st century BC
exif: {}