Rei-kyō

Rei-kyō (鈴鏡) is an ancient type of Japanese round bronze mirror made in the late Kofun period (5th - 6th century). The mirror is named so because it has bells around its perimeter.

History
Rei-kyō is a Chinese-style bronze mirror made in the Japanese archipelago, whose perimeter is surrounded by four to ten bells with pebbles inside. Chinese-style bronze mirrors made outside of China are called bousei-kyō (仿製鏡), and rei-kyō is one of them. It is an instrument intended to make sound, and haniwa (clay figurines) with a mirror of this style on their waist have been excavated. Rei-kyō loses its original purpose as a mirror, and this fact suggests that mirrors were regarded as tools for spells in Wa at that time.