The Zen fish-shaped drum, Gyoban

In the Zen Buddhist temples from Japan, suspended in front of the entrance to the refectory, you will notice an odd object, a large wooden fish... This is actually a drum, called Gyoban, used to call the monks to meals or meditation.

At Kofuku-ji in Nagasaki you can admire a very old, unique in Japan model, from the Chinese Ming Dynasty, shaped like a legendary fish. Even more interesting, there are actually two such drums, a male and a female, and they have a specific meaning: the male (in the photo) holds in its mouth a ball symbolizing the human desires and earthly temptations and the symbol is that when it is beaten, those desires and temptations are expelled...