Kokuchō Bell of Time, Bell tower in Nihonbashi-Kodenmachō, Japan

The Kokuchō Bell of Time is a reinforced-concrete bell tower in Jisshi Park, Nihonbashi-Kodenmachō. Its bronze bell, cast in 1711, is 1.7 metres tall with a 93 cm diameter and is a Tokyo Metropolitan Designated Cultural Property. The bell was moved to the park in 1930.

The bell tower was built in 1626 during the early Edo period and served the local community as an essential timekeeping device. Its long presence in this district connects it to centuries of the neighborhood's development.

The bell was rung on the hour, timed by a drumbeat from Edo Castle, and other time bells across the city waited to hear it before ringing their own. Locals paid a ringing fee of four mon per frontage. The poet Yosa Buson lived nearby, and a senryu joked that the bell could be heard as far as Holland, because the Nagasakiya inn housing Dutch trading mission envoys stood close by.

The bell tower is within easy walking distance from nearby train stations and sits in the heart of the Nihonbashi district. Visitors can easily include it while exploring the surrounding streets and small parks.

The bell that hangs here today was cast in 1711, after a fire destroyed the earlier bell tower in 1710. It measures 1.7 metres in height with a mouth 93 cm across, and it is rung only on New Year's Eve. The present tower is made of reinforced concrete.