Photo/Illutration Hideharu Motoi stands behind a recently completed temple bell in the factory of Oigo Works Co. in Takaoka, Toyama Prefecture. (Kohei Higashitani)

Hard times have befallen a copper-works company that has forged thousands of temple bells around Japan that are traditionally rung on New Year’s Eve.

Oigo Works Co., based in Takaoka, Toyama Prefecture, has vowed to continue operating but market forces, the COVID-19 pandemic and even noise complaints are now working against the centuries-old company.

The city of Takaoka has long been known for its copper ware made into Buddhist statues and ornaments. At one time, Oigo Works had 60 to 70 percent of the market share for temple bells.

The ringing of the “joya no kane” bells on New Year’s Eve is based on the Buddhist belief in the 108 worldly desires that cause people pain and suffering. These desires are supposedly removed when the bell is struck 108 times.

Since the mid-Edo Period (1603-1867), Oigo Works has forged about 20,000 bells of all sizes, many of them after World War II.

The government in 1941 had ordered the public to submit metals of all kinds for the production of materiel in the war effort. Temples were forced to hand in their bells made of copper and tin.

After the war ended, many temples placed orders with Oigo Works for new bells. In some postwar years, the company produced 200 bells.

Even in recent years, many of the 20 or so orders the company receives annually are from temples replacing the bells turned in during the war.

“I feel as though some areas are still trying to recover from the war,” said Hideharu Motoi, 66, company chairman.

He was recently working on a bell for a temple in Ibaraki Prefecture to be delivered next spring.

“It was not like this in the past,” Motoi said, looking around the workplace. “There used to be so many bells that there was no room to walk around.”

The company also forged the “peace bell” at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park that is struck every Aug. 6 to memorialize those killed in the atomic bombing of the city in 1945.

But in June this year, Oigo Works submitted an application for bankruptcy proceedings under the Civil Rehabilitation Law.

The main problem stemmed from the large machinery tools the company began manufacturing in the 1980s. A stronger yen led to a flood of cheap imports, and the company’s debts from loans to manufacture those tools began accumulating.

Temple bells still make up about 30 percent of the company’s business, but the novel coronavirus pandemic led many temples to postpone orders.

The final straw may have been the higher prices for copper with the spread of electric vehicles.

Oigo Works’ future could also be affected by moves from many temples around Japan to ring the bells earlier on New Year’s Eve or to cancel the event due to complaints about noise pollution from neighbors.

But Motoi has no plans to stop forging temple bells.

The craftsman’s name of Oigo Jiemon has been passed down in the family, and the current chairman is the 14th in the family line.

“Even if we only manufacture 10 bells a year, I want to continue producing bells,” he said.

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