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| Wooden bell maker |
I don’t know if it’s because it’s a sacred land or not, but right on Thuy Xuan hill, for nearly a hundred years now, a village of wooden bell makers has been formed. It’s the junction between Thuy Xuan ward and Phuong Duc ward of Hue city. Surrounding the village are ancient pagodas and cemeteries that have existed for a long time. Standing here, you can hear the sound of the wooden bell all day long because the craftsmen always have to test the sound carefully to chisel and carve so that their wooden bells have the best, warmest and most “awakening” sound.
Famous for their craft of making wooden bell in Thuy Xuan are the three Pham brothers, Pham Ngoc Hai, Pham Ngoc Phuc, and Pham Ngoc Duc. They are the grandsons of Mr. Pham Ngoc Du and the sons of Mr. Pham Ngoc Dung - the skilled wooden bell makers of the Thuy Xuan craft village at one time. Mr. Pham Ngoc Du is considered the "ancestor" of the wooden bell making craft here with many generations of students who have now had their own business in making wooden bell. The sound of their wooden bell has resounded far and wide across the country, and even in the Buddhist pagodas of Vietnamese people around the world. A famous student of the Pham family that many people know about is artisan Le Thanh Liem, who, 14 years ago, brought to the 1000th anniversary of Thang Long a giant wooden bell weighing up to 250kg.
The craft of making wooden bell is very elaborate from choosing old jackfruit trunks, with solid, good, smooth wood; thus when carving, there will be no cracks on the wood. A precious wooden bell must be made from a single piece of old jackfruit trunk, without any assembly from pieces of wood. The wooden bell maker must be very skillful and have an eye for every step: cutting the wood, making the blank, shaping the wooden bell, chiseling, carving, checking the sound, painting and cooling. Most of the steps are done by hand; machines only intervene in some parts that need to free up human strength such as sawing, cutting, grinding, painting... But the most important thing is still the ear to appreciate the sound. According to Pham Ngoc Hai, the eldest of the three Pham Ngoc brothers, that is the secret of wooden bell makers. "A wooden bell of any size will have a sound suitable for that size. But the size of the space where the wooden bell is placed determines everything. We cannot place a small wooden bell in a space that is too large and vice versa. So when a customer orders a wooden bell, we have to check the space where the wooden bell will be placed to determine the size.
Hai also said that the secret to make a wooden bell sound good and with enough resonance and depth is to know how to chisel the wooden bell’s belly. After forming the basic shape of the wooden bell, the craftsman will drill two symmetrical round holes on both sides of the wooden bell’s belly, from there he will use his hand to control the chisel to go deep into the wood, hollowing out the inside. After the basic chiseling is completed, a groove will be cut through the wooden bell’s belly, connecting the two round holes and leading to the hollow layer inside. The wooden bell’s belly is now like a sound resonance box. When a stick strikes on the outside of the belly, the sound will resonate inside and then follow the groove out to become the wooden bell’s sound.
“Not anyone can do this job. Sometimes I have to go to the pagoda, listen carefully to the sound of the ancient wooden bell that the monks keep as treasures there, and then remember carefully to adjust the sound of my wooden bell to please the difficult monks,” Hai smiled happily when talking about his job.
Usually, outside workers are only assigned to the woodworking and carving stages. The sounding of the wooden bell must be done by someone in the house so that the secret is not revealed. It must be assigned to someone with a good ear for sound, who can chisel skillfully and carefully. After the wooden bell is completed, the last thing left is to test the sound and make it clear, people call it "calling the wooden bell 's sound". Those are the final chiseling strokes that are extremely meticulous. If the chiseling is off by even a little bit, the sound will be ruined, and the wooden bell will be considered useless.
The beautiful shape of Hue wooden bell is due to the skillful carving, trimming and engraving, looking balanced, strong but still soft and full of Zen. The main decorative features are fish scales, dragon heads following the story of a fish transforming into a dragon and some motifs of vines, flowers and leaves, and calligraphy of Hue.
Currently, Thuy Xuan has two establishments making wooden bell, owned by the Pham Ngoc brothers and artisan Le Thanh Liem. Each establishment produces several hundred different wooden bell each month. Wooden bell bearing the Hue brand are not only circulated locally, but also sold throughout the country and even exported abroad. The sizes of the wooden bell are also quite diverse, from 10cm - 15cm to giant wooden bell with a diameter of 1.2m. The patterns also have sophisticated and interesting variations.
Hue was once known as the capital of Buddhism, and is still a major Buddhist center of the country. Hundreds of large and small pagodas in Hue have wooden bell produced in Thuy Xuan craft village, including ancient wooden bells that are over a hundred years old.
And Hue wooden bells are still going even further…