Daruma-san Korokoro 【Beautiful Japan #22】

I thought today we'd look at Japan's favorite doll, Daruma. Here are two photos of the fella.

I_Could_Tell_He_Wasn't_Crazy_About_My_Plan.jpg

These photos were taken at New Years time which is the most common time to buy the guys. They can be pretty expensive. You can see in the second photo that the mid-sized one is 一五00円, which means ¥1500. Pretty expensive! And the price just goes up from there.

Daruma is a very traditional doll. You can see he's eyeless. What you do is you buy one and make a wish or a goal and paint in one eye. Then you display him in a location where you and/or others will see him, to constantly remind you of your goal and to let other people know you are working on a goal. After the goal or wish comes true, you paint in his other eye.

So.... you are demanding he give you a wish or else you won't give him his eye! That's harsh. But in all seriousness, it's kind of a motivational hack when you think of it. You will see these guys all over Japan if you look for them, expecially common in hopefully politician offices. Whenever you see one, if he only has one eye, you know someone is still working to reach their goal.

At the end of the year they are suppose to be returned to the shrine at which they were purchased where they are burned. Then you can buy a new one if your wish hasn't come true yet. Gotta keep the shrine in business, eh? ;)

They are based on this guy:

His name was Bodhidharma and he is thought to be the monk who brought Chan Buddhism to China, which the Japanese call Zen. There is a legend that says when he failed to make an impression on the South China Emperor, he went to a cave where he stared at a wall in meditation for 9 years. Wall-staring is a common zen exercise, though 9 years is a little excessive.

At any rate, during those 9 years of no movement, his legs atrophied. This is why the daruma doll has no legs. It is also said that in the 7th year of his wall-staring he fell asleep. Enraged at himself, he cut off his eyelids and threw them against the cave wall where they became the first tea plants—tea which is used to keep zen students awake to this day.

Hmm... even if there is some truth to the years of wall-staring, I'm kind of doubting the eyelid cutting off thing. It's a fun story, though, and zen tales are filled with this kind of thing which are never really meant to be taken seriously. If you take any zen story seriously a zen monk will just laugh at you, a full good natured laugh, then say something equally nonsensical. Strange folks.

I titled this post "Daruma korokoro". What's korokoro? That's the sound a rock or ball or somehing makes as it tumbles around, and so too that's the sound a Daruma head makes as he tumbles around. Kind of a funny image, eh? If you've ever watched the wonder Ghilbi film Spirited Away, Yubaba's three helper heads which are always rolling to and fro are based on Daruma.

Don't miss the other great photos in the Beautiful Japan photo series!

Thank you for reading. :)

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I post one photo everyday, as well as some misc posts such as haiku, videos, more Japanese history, and so on. Let me know if there is anything about Japan you would like to know more about or would like to see.


	David LaSpina is an American photographer lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time.