Bell (instrument) - Bell Construed As A Cause For War

Bell Construed As A Cause For War

On January 15, 1602 (Keichō 7), a fire broke out at Hōkō-ji, Buddhist temple complex in Kyoto. The great image of the Buddha and the structure housing the statue, the Daibutsu-den, were both consumed by the flames.

In 1610, Toyotomi Hideyori decided to sponsor rebuilding the Hōkō-ji and he also decided to order a great bell cast in bronze.

On August 24, 1614 (Keichō 19), the huge new bronze bell was cast successfully. Dedication ceremonies were scheduled, but at the last minute, Tokugawa Ieyasu forbade the ceremonies to take place because he construed inscriptions on the bell to have been a personal affront:

he tablet over the Daibatsu-den and the bell bore the inscription "Kokka ankō" (meaning "the country and the house, peace and tranquility"), and at this Tokugawa Ieyasu affected to take umbrage, alleging that it was intended as a curse on him for the character 安 (an, "peace") was placed between the two characters composing his own name 家康 ("ka-kō", "house tranquility") ... This incident of the inscription was, of course, a mere pretext, but Ieyasu realized that he could not enjoy the power he had usurped as long as Hideyori lived, and consequently, although the latter more than once dispatched his kerei Katagiri Kastumoto to Sunpu Castle with profuse apologies, Ieyasu refused to be placated."

This contrived dispute led to the Siege of Osaka (大坂の役, Ōsaka no Eki?, or, more commonly, 大坂の陣 Ōsaka no Jin), which was a series of battles between armies of the Tokugawa shogunate and the samurai of the Toyotomi clan. The siege lasted through 1615. It is conventionally divided into two stages—the Winter Campaign and the Summer Campaign. In the end, the total destruction of the Toyotomi eliminated the last major opposition to the shogunate which would come to dominate Japan for the next 250 years.