Tenman Shrine Bell

This image from the Tenman Shrine depicts a bell hung with long colored strips of fabric. Visiting the Tenman Shrine on New Year’s Day, in a “first visit” ceremony (hatsumode), was a yearly tradition that was incomplete without making an offering and ringing the temple bell. Thus, the bell became a shorthand symbol of the New Year. Nakagawa Rogetsu skillfully used the vertical format of this print to create an image of cloth strips hanging down and intermingling with falling plum petals.