Glossary - individual

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bowl-bell (keisu 鏧子, kei 鏧)

A type of bell, traditionally made of a thin sheet of copper beaten into the shape of a bowl, which rests mouth up on a cushion and is rung by striking the lip with a baton. The smallest bowl bell is the so-called hand–bell (shukei 手鏧, inkin 引鏧), which is affixed to the end of a wooden handle by a bolt that runs through the bottom of the bowl and the cushion; the bell is rung by holding the handle in one hand, grasping a thin bronze rod (attached to the handle by a string) in the other hand, and striking the lip of the bowl. The small bowl-bell (shōkei 小鏧) is a medium-sized bowl, about 20 cm in diameter, that sits on a cushion and is rung with a wooden baton. Large bowl-bells (daikei 大鏧) range from 30 cm to more than 50 cm in diameter; they sit on a cushion and are rung with a wooden baton covered in leather. When any bowl-bell is rung, it reverberates for long time unless it is damped (osaeru 押さえる) by grabbing the lip with the hand or holding the baton against it. Another technique for sounding a bowl-bell is to damp it with one hand while striking it with the butt of the baton, held in the other hand. This is called "hitting damped bowl-bell with butt of baton" (nakkei 捺鏧).