The sound of the peace bell
In 1951 Chiyoji Nakagawa, a member of the International Association of Japan, during the Sixth International Assembly of the United Nations in Paris, expressed the will to collect coins and medals from all over the world and melt them into a bell, a symbol of hope for peace in the world by all humanity.
Nakagawa takes three years and collects coins, sword handles, bullets, military and religious coats of arms, copper plates and more, from over 60 countries, plus 9 gold coins received from Pope Pius XII and makes the bell on whose surface he engraves the inscription 世界絶対平和萬歳 (“absolute peace in the world”).
The United Nations places the “Japanese peace bell” in the Japanese garden inside the headquarters in New York, where it still resides.
In 2019 the project for the donation of a “Sister bell” to the Republic of San Marino was born, through the intercession of the Organizing Committee of the San Marino Nippon Matsuri Festival, the project has been officially approved by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the UN.
The bell in question is the fourth largest in the peace bell family, after the “mother bell” at Taiheiji Temple in Uwajima, the original bell at UN headquarters, and the “sister bell” at Osaka Expo Memorial Park. This bell is built with the same materials as the original bell at the UN and coins offered by San Marino and Japan were also used in the casting.
The tolling of the bell will ring in Rimini on July 14, accompanied by a performance of Japanese drums, to testify to the no to war.
