Station bell

Under the Japanese ritsuryō system, station

bells or post bells ( 駅鈴 , ekirei) were bells of red
copper issued by the central government or by
local provincial government offices to travelling
officials or messengers known as ekishi ( 駅 使 ).[1]
[2]
 Functioning as a proof of identity, they allowed
them to procure horses and labour at post stations.
[2]
 These post stations were located every 30 ri (16
kilometers) each providing between five and
twenty messenger horses depending on the grade of the road.[3] Depending on
the rank of the emissary, the bells were marked with a number of notches
regulating the number of horses that could be requested. [4] A prince of royal blood
of first rank would receive ten horses.[5] On urgent dispatches the ekishi would ride
with the bells ringing in order to be able to change horses at any time of day or
night without delay.[1][4] These bells were also known as post road bells (ekiru no
suzu) or stable bells (umaya no suzu).[2] The system was established in the Taihō
Code from 701 and was in use until the end of the 12th century or the end of
the Heian period when it fell in disuse together with the demise of the centralized
state.[3][6]
A set of two station bells located on Dōgo island in Okinoshima, Shimane
Prefecture and known as Ekirei of Oki Province ( 隠 岐 国 駅 鈴 , oki no kuni
ekirei) has been designated as Important Cultural Property of Japan. Attached to
the nomination is a six-legged Chinese style chest bestowed by Emperor Kōkaku.
[7]
 The bells have been handed down in the Oki family whose members were
associated with the Tamawakasu no Mikoto Shrine (玉若酢命神社, tamawakasu
no mikoto jinja) and the regional administrators of Oki Province. They are
currently located in the Oki family treasure hall (億岐家宝物館, Oki-ke　Hōmotsu-
kan) in Okinoshima. The two bells are of flat octagonal shape and made of cast
copper. On one side of the trunk the character " 驛" (station) is carved, and on the
opposite side, the character " 鈴" (bell). At the bottom of the bells three and four
legs are attached respectively. They weigh in at 700 g (25 oz) and 770 g (27 oz)
respectively. Before World War II, the bells had been designated as National
Treasure of Japan on April 30, 1935, but lost this status in the reorganisation of
cultural property protection after the war when all previously designated National
Treasures were demoted to Important Cultural Properties in 1950. [8]