Daruma
With our second new year celebration behind us, I am going to look a little more into the famous daruma figure. My first post on January celebrations discussed a lot of information related to shrine visits and other common customs, so this time we'll discuss a tradition that is more closely connected to Buddhism than Shinto.
Daruma are considered wishing dolls, and it is very common for companies and individuals to buy a new daruma at the beginning of the year. They vary in both size and color, so you choose what works best for you. Companies tend to purchase the larger daruma and position them somewhere in the office for people to see. The traditional daruma color is red, however as the custom has grown, various colors have become associated with specific types of wishes. For example, if you are wishing for good luck in money, you would buy a golden daruma.
Darumas can be purchased in many places, especially where we are. The city of Takasaki is famous for the manufacturing of daruma, and there is a daruma temple, Shorinzan, that many people visit around the new year. Here, you can purchase a new daruma and have it blessed by the temple, and offer your old daruma from the last year to the priests. The temple eventually holds a ceremony where they burn all of the old darumas that have been given back to the temple. I've heard a couple different explanations for this, and the practice is similar to returning any omamori or charms purchased for the year at a shrine. Explanation one is that these items are returned and burned as a sign of thanks to the gods for their guidance and protection in the previous year. The other explanation is that the charms, and daruma, are charged with a certain amount of energy. After about a year, that energy starts to turn negative and needs to be purified by fire. Basically, every year these items get burned and new ones are purchased, so spiritual reasons aside it can be pretty lucrative for the right people.
Earlier I had mentioned that a daruma is a wishing doll, but simply purchasing the daruma won't help you with your wish. First lets look at the daruma design. Although it's a doll, the daruma is nearly round with a flat base to sit on. Traditionally, the daruma doll is a representation of the monk Bodhidharma, the founder of Zen Buddhism. Da-ru-ma is the Japanese pronunciation of the word dharma. In legend, the Bodhidharma meditated in perfect stillness for so long that his arms and legs fell off. This is why the daruma doll has no arms or legs. The main feature is then the red (or other colored) paint that represents the Bodhidharma's robes, and the face. On the face, the eyebrows are quite prominent and are drawn to represent cranes, a symbol of longevity. Fitting in with this theme is the other facial hair, which is drawn to represent a tortoise.
However the most important feature of the daruma is the eyes. White and lifeless, a daruma doll is designed without pupils. When a daruma is first purchased, the new owner takes ink and draws in the daruma's left eye. This is done while focusing on the wish at hand. It is to remain with only one eye until the wish is fulfilled, at which time the other eye is filled in and the daruma is considered to have completed its purpose. Commonly, the other eye won't be filled in until the very end of the year, as a sign that the wish was something like 'I wish for good luck this entire year.' Even if you don't think you've actually had good luck in the year, you should still fill in the right eye before taking the daruma to be burned.
And that is the story of the daruma doll! If you're ever in Japan, you can find these in a lot of souvenir shops, even outside of the new year season.
Daruma are considered wishing dolls, and it is very common for companies and individuals to buy a new daruma at the beginning of the year. They vary in both size and color, so you choose what works best for you. Companies tend to purchase the larger daruma and position them somewhere in the office for people to see. The traditional daruma color is red, however as the custom has grown, various colors have become associated with specific types of wishes. For example, if you are wishing for good luck in money, you would buy a golden daruma.
Darumas can be purchased in many places, especially where we are. The city of Takasaki is famous for the manufacturing of daruma, and there is a daruma temple, Shorinzan, that many people visit around the new year. Here, you can purchase a new daruma and have it blessed by the temple, and offer your old daruma from the last year to the priests. The temple eventually holds a ceremony where they burn all of the old darumas that have been given back to the temple. I've heard a couple different explanations for this, and the practice is similar to returning any omamori or charms purchased for the year at a shrine. Explanation one is that these items are returned and burned as a sign of thanks to the gods for their guidance and protection in the previous year. The other explanation is that the charms, and daruma, are charged with a certain amount of energy. After about a year, that energy starts to turn negative and needs to be purified by fire. Basically, every year these items get burned and new ones are purchased, so spiritual reasons aside it can be pretty lucrative for the right people.
Earlier I had mentioned that a daruma is a wishing doll, but simply purchasing the daruma won't help you with your wish. First lets look at the daruma design. Although it's a doll, the daruma is nearly round with a flat base to sit on. Traditionally, the daruma doll is a representation of the monk Bodhidharma, the founder of Zen Buddhism. Da-ru-ma is the Japanese pronunciation of the word dharma. In legend, the Bodhidharma meditated in perfect stillness for so long that his arms and legs fell off. This is why the daruma doll has no arms or legs. The main feature is then the red (or other colored) paint that represents the Bodhidharma's robes, and the face. On the face, the eyebrows are quite prominent and are drawn to represent cranes, a symbol of longevity. Fitting in with this theme is the other facial hair, which is drawn to represent a tortoise.
However the most important feature of the daruma is the eyes. White and lifeless, a daruma doll is designed without pupils. When a daruma is first purchased, the new owner takes ink and draws in the daruma's left eye. This is done while focusing on the wish at hand. It is to remain with only one eye until the wish is fulfilled, at which time the other eye is filled in and the daruma is considered to have completed its purpose. Commonly, the other eye won't be filled in until the very end of the year, as a sign that the wish was something like 'I wish for good luck this entire year.' Even if you don't think you've actually had good luck in the year, you should still fill in the right eye before taking the daruma to be burned.
And that is the story of the daruma doll! If you're ever in Japan, you can find these in a lot of souvenir shops, even outside of the new year season.
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