The sound of the Bell 鐘のひびき

The Sound of the bell 鐘のひびき

The sound of the bell is a children's story written by Nobuo Ishimori 石森延男. This story is published in nr. 86 of the Roba no mimi series (1976). The Roba no mimi series (ろばのみみ) was published by The Logos Church 日本基督教団ロゴス教会. Sadao Watanabe made the illustrations for this story, using his stencil technique. 

Nobuo Ishimori appreciated Watanabe's art. Reflecting on one of Watanabe's prints he wrote: "Though it is a mere dying, it is really beyond human art. It is an unexpected beauty of expression. Perhaps no word I use can express all what I got from mr. Watanabe's Hanga. Why did Mr. Watanabe start Hanga art and make it his life work? Perhaps it is because he sincerely wished to be what he thought he should be. Perhaps he wanted to be embraced in the grace of God in the course of his Hanga work." (Nobuo Ishimori in: Watanabe Sadao, Katazome Hanga, volume 2, 1979, roba no mimi nr. 92).

Nobuo Ishimori  石森延男 (1897 - 1987) was a Japanese children's author, a Japanese language educator and a textbook editor. He wrote lots of children's books and also three story's for the Roba no mimi series. The Sound of the bell is a story about Onesimus オネシモ , the person mentioned in Paul's letter to Philemon フィレモンへの手紙.