Temple Bell, Annapolis

Temple Bell is a large bronze bell displayed on the grounds of the United States Naval Academy. Its history goes back to 1854, when it was presented to Commodore Matthew C. Perry during his mission to open Japan to trade. The bell came from Gokoku-ji Temple in the Ryukyu Kingdom and was originally cast in 1456. After Perry’s death in 1858, his widow Jane Slidell Perry donated it to the Naval Academy in early 1859.

The bell follows the design of traditional Japanese temple bells, with a wide rounded body and decorative bands cast into the bronze. Unlike Western bells that swing inside towers, it stays still and is struck from the outside with a wooden beam. At the academy, it became a tradition to ring the bell after football victories over the Army Black Knights football and during major national events such as the end of the Second World War in 1945.

In 1987 the original bell was returned to Okinawa after officials there asked for its return. Later that year it was sent back to Gokoku-ji Temple. Soon afterward, the people of Okinawa presented the Naval Academy with an exact replica as a gesture of friendship. The bell displayed today is that replacement, placed in the same location where the historic bell once stood.