This temple bell, made in 1690, was donated from Genkaku-ji Temple in Tokyo to Nanyo-ji Temple in Saipan Island in 1937, because Saipan was under Japanese trusteeship at that time. The last stage of the Second World War, about forty thousand garrisons and civilians of this island were killed in this war. It's not to mention that Nanyo-ji Temple was completely destroyed at the same time. This temple bell from Japan had been missing since then. However a Japanese woman in Texas found this bell there by chance in 1965, and this bell finally was returned to the original place, Genkaku-ji Temple, in 1974. The surface of the bell has numberless bullet marks, which remind us of the appalling battles on the Pacific Islands a long time ago.
Licensed tour guide, travel consultant,
Masahisa Takaki.
