In Kyoto's Kamigyo Ward, Shokoku-ji Temple, the head temple of the Shokoku-ji branch of Rinzai Zen, performed a completion service on August 1 for the bell tower built for a "Bonsho" bell received from the Daxiangguo Temple in China. This year marks the 20th year of exchange between these two temples. Given as testimony of this exchange, the bell peals profoundly.

The bell was made in 2005 in China. It is about 2.5 meters tall, is made of copper weighing about 3.5 tons, and is inscribed with the Heart Sutra and characters marking it as an amity memorial bell, with the bottom of the bell curving distinctively outwards. It arrived from Daxiangguo Temple in January 2010, following which Shokoku-ji Temple built a tiled-roof bell tower to match it that is about 5.6 meters tall and about 2.7 meters long and wide, called "Tenkyoro."

Shortly after 9:00a.m., approximately 40 Buddhist monks from subsidiary temples of Shokoku-ji Temple gathered to carry out a Buddhist memorial service, and struck the bell for the first time. Shokoku-ji Temple's chief priest, Raitei Arima, said, "We struck the bell wishing with Buddhist spirit for peace to all mankind." Daxiangguo Temple, located in Kaifeng, Henan Province, China, is an ancient temple, founded in the 6th century A.D. As the name "Shokoku-ji" comes from Daxiangguo Temple, the two temples signed a friendship agreement in 1992, and have continued exchanges to this day.