In Japan’s Joya no Kane ceremony, most temple bells are rung 108 times.
The New Year’s Eve Buddhist custom is performed with a large temple bell called a bonshō. The ringing usually takes place around midnight on December 31, as part of Ōmisoka, Japan’s New Year observance. Each strike is traditionally associated with one of the 108 worldly desires or attachments that Buddhism says trouble human beings, symbolically helping people enter the new year with a clearer mind.
The practice has older roots than its modern nationwide popularity. It began in Zen temples in China, reached Japan during the Kamakura period (1185–1333), and became a specifically New Year’s Eve event during the Muromachi period (1333–1573). Radio and television broadcasts in the 20th century helped spread it beyond Zen temples and made it a familiar national tradition.
The number is customary, not absolute. Some temples allow visitors to participate and may ring beyond 108 times, while others adjust the schedule so the final strike falls after midnight. The figure 33 belongs more specifically to South Korea’s Bosingak bell tradition, not the usual Japanese count.