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ごんごろ鐘新美南吉

Upper intermediate · JLPT N2

ごんごろ鐘Gon Gorogane — The Bell Called Gongoro

by Niimi Nankichi (新美南吉, 1913–1943)

  • JLPT N2
  • 8,641 characters
  • 6 parts
  • about 72 minutes
  • 3 easier versions

This is a diary-style story told by a village boy who is about to start his sixth year at school. Over three days in March during the Pacific War, his village learns that the old bell at the local nunnery, known by the odd name "Gongoro," is to be given up so its metal can be made into bombs. The boy records the competing explanations for the bell's name, the village gathering to strike it one last time, and what happens after the bell is carried off on an ox-cart. The tone is gentle and observant, full of small comic portraits of villagers: a man who stammers, one who only says serious things, another who pulls funny faces. Beneath the humour runs a quiet sense of loss and of how a community is bound together. For learners, the first-person narration in plain form is fairly easy to follow. The challenge is the dialogue, where villagers speak rural dialect, the nun uses old-fashioned polite speech, and many characters and place names appear. The story also reflects wartime attitudes, which the boy reports without questioning.

Start reading →Try the easy N5 version

Contents

  1. Where Did the Bell Get Its Name?The narrator's father comes home from the village council with news that the nunnery's old bell, the Gongoro Bell, will be donated to the war effort. The boy records the different stories about how the bell got its odd name. An old man tells of a wheezing bell-maker, and his grandmother tells of a maker named Gongorō. His older brother explains that people first called it the 'Gon-gon Bell' for the way it rang, until someone misspoke, and 'Gongoro' stuck because it sounded better. He also notes that the bell, which once seemed huge to him, is really rather small.
  2. The Children Ring Their Bell GoodbyeThe narrator remembers how the bell at the nunnery was the village children's favourite meeting place. On the second day of the spring holidays, the bell is to be taken down and sent off to the war, and the whole village, even the very old, gathers to say goodbye. Each child is allowed to strike it three times, and afterwards Father explains that because neighbouring valleys and villages helped pay for the bell, their voices seem to ring in it too.
  3. Lowering the Bell and a Farewell SutraThe gardener Yasu and the young men lower the Gongoro bell, and the nun and old Otake scrub it until its inscription can be read. Yoshihiko reads out that it dates from the An'ei era and names a craftsman called Sukekurō, and Monjirō's grandmother grumbles that it doesn't say Gongoro. Before the bell is loaded onto Watarō's ox-cart, the stubborn young nun insists on a memorial service for it, and the villagers then talk about how they will gather people without it.
  4. The Bell Sets Off for TownAs the villagers say their farewells, they wonder how many bombs the bell will make and whether Shirōgorō's son Masao might drop one of them himself. The bell leaves on an ox-cart, and the older children decide to follow it all the way to town. Hirao, a fourth-year boy who once had to repeat a year, refuses to go home with the little ones and beats the boys who try to force him, then follows anyway, and the others decide to forgive him.
  5. Farewells, White Camellias and a Late VisitorAs the village bell is sent away, the children see it off by heaping flowers and branches around it in farewell. The next day, before the children's meeting at the nunnery, the narrator finds a white camellia in bloom and marvels at it. An old man from the remote valley of Fukadani then arrives in a pram pushed by his son, hoping to see the bell, but he had not heard the farewell ringing because of his poor hearing, and he is too late.
  6. The Old Man Meets His Bell AgainMoved by sympathy for an old man passing in a pram, the children agree to Matsuo's proposal to take him to town to see the Gongoro bell, though they had walked that same road only the day before. He strokes the bell fondly, and the tired children bring him home to Fukadani. That evening Father explains that the bell was cast near Fukadani. When the radio reports bombing raids, the narrator realises the bell will become bombs, and his brother says that old things become useful only when they are reborn as something new.

Easier versions

This story is also retold in simpler Japanese. Reading an easier version first makes the original much more approachable.

Before you read

  • Learn the village dialect endings before you start. だら and ずら mean roughly だろう, げな marks hearsay ("they say"), and ええ means いい. Once you recognise these, most of the dialogue becomes readable.
  • Keep a list of names as you read. Over twenty people and places appear, and many are only nicknamed or mentioned once. Readings like 四郎五郎 (しろうごろう), 比良夫 (ひらお), and 鐘鋳谷 (かねいだに) are easy to misread.
  • Watch for grammar that recurs throughout the story. 〜ことにきまる ("it was decided that") reports the village's decisions. 〜ねばならない is an older form of 〜なければならない. 〜はずだ expresses the boy's expectations, and 誰いうとなく means "without anyone in particular saying it."
  • Notice the shifts in politeness. The boy writes plain-form diary entries but uses respectful language for his father. The nun speaks with ござんす. These shifts tell you who is speaking and how they relate to each other.
  • Learn the bell-related vocabulary first: 鐘 (かね), 鐘つき堂, 撞く (つく, to strike a bell), 尼寺 (あまでら, nunnery), 供出 or 献納 (handing over goods to the state), and 爆弾 (ばくだん, bomb). These words carry the main thread of the story.

Words to know

The most useful words from the notes across the story.

WordMeaningJLPT
鐘楼しゅろうbell tower (at a temple)More commonly read しょうろう today.—
たいくつたいくつboring; boreddictionary form: 退屈N3
提案ていあんsuggestion, proposalN3
惜しんでおしむto regret, to be reluctant to losedictionary form: 惜しむ別れを惜しむ is a set phrase: 'to be sad to say goodbye'.N1
献納けんのうdonation, offering (to the state or a shrine)Formal word; here used for giving metal to the government during the war.—
尼寺あまでらnunnery, Buddhist convent尼 = nun, 寺 (でら by rendaku) = temple.—
庵主あんじゅhead nun of a small temple, abbess庵 is a small hermitage.—
余韻よいんlingering sound, reverberation—
出征しゅっせいgoing off to warSaid of soldiers; the quotation marks show the bell is being treated like a departing soldier.—
荒鷲あらわしwild eagle; wartime term for a fighter or bomber pilot海の荒鷲 meant naval airmen; a wartime propaganda phrase.—
承知しょうちconsent, agreementご承知なさる is the honorific form of 承知する.N4
気の毒きのどくpitiful; feeling sorry for someone気の毒そう = looking sympathetic.N3
賛成さんせいagreement, approval; 'I agree'Its opposite is 反対 (はんたい).N3
やっかいやっかいtroublesome, awkward to handledictionary form: 厄介N3
感心かんしんadmirable, praiseworthy感心なことに = 'admirably, to someone's credit'.N3

Plot summary

Show the full summary (contains spoilers)

The narrator's father brings news that the nunnery's Gongoro Bell will be donated to the war effort. The boy notes several stories about its name. On the second day of the spring holidays, the whole village gathers, and each child strikes the bell three times. Yasu and the young men lower it. Its inscription names a craftsman called Sukekurō, and the nun insists on a memorial service before it leaves on Watarō's ox-cart. The older children follow it to town, and the stubborn Hirao tags along. The next day, a nearly deaf old man from Fukadani arrives in a pram, too late to see the bell. Out of sympathy, the children take him all the way to town, where he strokes it fondly. That evening Father explains that the bell was cast near Fukadani. Hearing radio reports of bombing raids, the boy realises the bell will become bombs. His brother says old things become useful only when reborn as something new.

About the author

Niimi Nankichi was a Japanese writer of children's stories, poems and songs from Handa in Aichi Prefecture. The countryside of that area is widely thought to lie behind the village and hills of Gongitsune. He began writing as a young man. Gongitsune appeared in the children's magazine Akai Tori (The Red Bird), edited by Suzuki Miekichi. Niimi later worked as a teacher at a girls' school while continuing to write. His health was poor, and he died of tuberculosis while still in his twenties. Many of his works were published and became widely known only after his death. Besides Gongitsune, he is especially remembered for Tebukuro wo Kai ni (Buying Mittens).

More stories by Niimi Nankichi →