Fūrin

What it is

A fūrin is a small Japanese wind chime, shaped like a shallow bowl and hung in summer. A narrow paper strip, the tanzaku, dangles beneath it, and the least breeze sets it ringing. Many Japanese people say the sound, and the sight of the paper stirring, makes hot weather feel cooler. The object also has a protective side: chimes hung from the eaves of Buddhist temples served as talismans, objects held to turn away evil spirits.

Where it comes from

The chime is thought to descend from metal wind bells of Tang-dynasty China, hung in bamboo groves and used to tell fortunes. The name fūrin came into use in Japan in the Heian period, when such bells hung from eaves, especially at Buddhist temples, as protection against evil spirits. Glass versions were first made late in the Edo period; glass is now the commonest material, and these are called Edo Fūrin. Metal and other materials are still used too.

How it is done

In ordinary use a fūrin is hung from a window, an eave or a porch for the summer, with the tanzaku left free to catch the air. Temples and shrines string up large numbers of them, sometimes thousands, and the resulting displays are popular warm-weather attractions; a market at Kawasaki Daishi sells them from across the country. At Mizusawa Station, hundreds hang on the platform through the summer.

Tools and materials

Glass is the favourite material in modern Japan, and free glassblowing, shaping the piece without a mould, is still practised by some craftsmen. Metal and other materials also appear. Each chime carries a tanzaku, the slip of paper whose movement makes it ring. In the Edo period free-blown glass pieces were costly, and feudal lords and wealthy merchants were their main owners; mass production later brought chimes into ordinary homes.

What it is for

Two purposes sit side by side. One is protection: at Buddhist temples the chimes were talismans meant to keep evil spirits away, and they are still found at shrines and temples. The other is seasonal comfort. The sound and the drifting paper are held to cool the feeling of a Japanese summer, which is why the fūrin counts as a fūbutsushi, an object taken to characterise a particular season.

Who does it

Making glass chimes is a craft. Some Japanese glassblowers still shape them by free blowing, working alongside the mass-produced versions sold cheaply. Hanging them is a household habit, done by ordinary families for the summer. In the Edo period ownership was narrower: feudal lords and wealthy merchants were the chief buyers of the expensive hand-blown pieces, before factory-made chimes spread more widely.

Peoples and places

Fūrin belong to Japan, where the glass type is known as Edo Fūrin. Summer displays are held around the country, often at temples or shrines: hundreds hang at Mizusawa Station in Ōshū, Iwate Prefecture; about 1,500 decorate Hikawa Shrine in Kawagoe, Saitama Prefecture; and the Kawasaki Daishi Fūrin Market in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, sells stock gathered from across Japan.

What people believe

Behind the chime lies a simple set of ideas rather than a doctrine. Its older use is protective: hung at temple eaves, it was understood to repel evil spirits. Its summer use rests on a shared perception, the belief that hearing the ring and watching the paper move makes heat easier to bear. That perception is what gives the object its place as a marker of the season.

When it is done

Fūrin are summer things, hung through the hot months, and their large displays are warm-weather attractions. Their place among fūbutsushi, items that stand for a single season of the Japanese year, comes from the Edo-period idea that the sound and the moving paper cool the air. Many households bring them out for the season, and temples and shrines fill with them at the same time of year.

Compare and confuse

Glass chimes carry their own name, Edo Fūrin, which sets them apart from the metal and mixed-material kinds. The older relative of the form is the Chinese metal wind bell, hung in bamboo groves and read for fortune-telling. In Japan the chime is also classed as a fūbutsushi, an object that stands for a particular season of the year.

Today

Mass production has made glass fūrin cheap and common in Japanese homes, while the free-blowing craft continues with some makers. Chimes of metal and other materials are still hung across the country. Summer displays keep drawing visitors, from the platform at Mizusawa Station, whose chime sound was chosen for the 100 Soundscapes of Japan, to the market at Kawasaki Daishi and the decorated grounds of Hikawa Shrine.

Questions people ask about Fūrin

Good reading and sources

• Encyclopaedia BritannicaArticle

• Fūrin on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data