The response from the Hongwanji school of the True Pure Land sect to the metal collection order ... of the requisitioned bells were actually melted down for the war effort.

The government in 1941 had ordered the public to submit metals of all kinds for the production of materiel in the war effort. Temples were forced to hand in their bells made of copper and tin.

The first responders collected almost $3,000 between the two. Larrick noted that the funds raised during the Battle of the Bells put the season total of funds collected at $16, 551.31. The goal for ...