Ghost associated with the Bell of Mugen

Overview

A farmer’s wife contributes an inherited bronze mirror to a temple bell in Hearn’s Of a Mirror and a Bell, then bitterly regrets the gift. The mirror will not melt, which the narrative attributes to her attachment. Public knowledge of her regret brings shame and anger; she drowns herself after leaving a promise that her ghost will reward anyone who breaks the finished bell by ringing it. Once she is dead the mirror melts, but the resulting bell withstands the crowds’ blows. The priests finally roll it into a swamp to escape the incessant noise.

The remainder follows attempts to substitute other objects for the inaccessible bell through nazoraëru, an imaginative identification whose religious and magical meanings Hearn discusses separately. Umégaë breaks a bronze basin while calling for money and receives the requested sum from a human guest who hears of her circumstances. This incident does not include a visible ghost handing her treasure.

In the closing episode, a ruined farmer breaks a clay imitation of the bell and demands wealth. A white-robed woman with long flowing hair rises from the ground, offers him a covered jar as the answer his prayer deserves, then disappears. He carries the heavy jar home, where he and his wife open it; Hearn deliberately refuses to name its contents. The tale’s sequence associates this manifestation with the promised ghost, but the apparition does not supply a personal name. No particular substance, successful enrichment or subsequent punishment is added to the withheld ending.

Origins & earliest records

Japanese tales retold in English by Lafcadio Hearn

Records & interpretation

Entire named story and its separate notes read, with original and digitizer notes distinguished.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

1. 01

   Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things

   Lafcadio Hearn · 1904

   Of a Mirror and a Bell; Project Gutenberg1210 transcription; original work1904, no scanned pagination assumed

Family & connections

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Primary records and illustrations

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

1. Historical literary retellingHearn, Kwaidan, Of a Mirror and a BellResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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