Bronze Battle Bell
Metalwork
This battle bell is traditionally associated with Sanada Yukitaka (1513–1574). It bears the inscription that reads “August, 3rd year of Koji (1557), Imperially authorized metal caster, Ikeda Kawachi-no-kami Hisayuki, resident of Senshu (present-day Izumi Province).” Cast in bronze with horizontal relief rings, and subtle surface ornamentation and historical casting inscriptions. The top is crowned with a distinctive twin-headed or coiled mythical dragon/beast loop used for suspending the bell. While the overall shape is based on the form of a temple bell, it is considerably modified to battle bell. Generally the battle bell is rung in the camp to signal the advance and retreat of soldiers.
Museum records note that the bell is said to have been received as a gift from Takeda Shingen, though the precise circumstances of this remain unclear however given the date of casting being in 1557, this was during various battles of Kawanakajima that spanned between 1553 and 1561 in which both Takeda Shingen and Sanada Yukitaka were involved.
Sanada Yukitaka was a key retainer of Takeda Shingen and one of the figures also among the Twenty-Four Generals of the Takeda who helped expand Takeda influence in Shinano and into Kozuke. The tradition linking this bell to him places the object within the broader material culture of the Takeda–Sanada relationship that shaped the Kawanakajima campaigns and the subsequent rise of the Sanada house.