Dojo-ji Temple in Wakayama Prefecture has an interesting legend as to why the temple did not have a bell for sometime.
In olden days, a young woman fell in love with a wandering Buddhist priest. He left her but she followed after. At a river he took the last boat but not to be denied she crossed the river and in the heat of her passion she transformed into a fiery serpent.
The priest fled to Dojo-ji temple and the abbot there lowered the bell and hid him under it. The fiery serpent woman found him anyway and wrapped her body around the bell.
This scene is re-enacted every year in late April.
AloJapan.com