By Ines Keane
Every daruma begins with two empty eyes. That is the whole idea. You buy one near the start of the year, decide what you want, fill in one eye, and put the doll where you can see it.
What the doll is
Wikipedia describes daruma as usually made of papier-mache, round, hollow and weighted at the bottom, so that they come upright again when tilted. Japan Guide, a travel website, says they are usually made from papier-mache using washi, a strong, fibrous traditional paper, and compares the rounded shape to a Russian nesting doll, a figure wrapped in a robe with a bearded face looking out from the hood. The character depicted, it says, is Bodhidharma, a legendary monk. We stay with the object and leave the monk’s story to the temple.
Where the eyes come in
Three sources agree on the routine. A new daruma has two blank white eyes. The owner paints in the left eye when setting a goal, and the right eye when it is achieved. Wikipedia adds that traditionally only the head of the household did the painting, and that one variety, the Matsukawa daruma, is sold with its eyes already painted. Visit Gunma, the prefecture’s tourist guide, says you can still fill in the second eye in recognition of a successful year, if the wish has not been fulfilled.
Reading the face
The sources tell us the face is a code. Visit Gunma says the eyebrows are shaped like cranes and the beards like turtles, and quotes a Japanese saying that the crane lives a thousand years and the turtle ten thousand, so both stand for long life. Japan Guide describes a Takasaki craftsperson painting the eyebrows and moustache in a few quick strokes, shapes based on a crane and a tortoise. Visit Gunma says kanji meaning luck or perseverance are painted on the middle of the doll, and that the round base returns it upright, which it links to the saying “seven times down, eight times up”.
Colours
Red is the traditional colour, according to Wikipedia, though colours vary by region and artist, and it describes the goshiki set of five: blue, yellow, red, white and black. Visit Gunma says red is the most common and is bought for general good fortune, and that the meaning of the other colours varies, giving examples such as gold or yellow for prosperity and blue for victory in sport. It says “sometimes”, so we treat the list as common usage and not as a rule.
Who made the first one?
Here the sources part, and we set them side by side.
- Wikipedia says the figure is said to have originated at Shorinzan, a temple in Takasaki that gave out New Year charms depicting Bodhidharma. Near the start of the Meiwa period, 1764 to 1772, it says, the ninth priest, Togaku, had parishioners make their own charms: the temple supplied wooden block moulds and farmers used them to make three-dimensional papier-mache charms.
- Japan Guide, in an article built around Gunma’s official tourism page, puts the origins at the end of the seventeenth century, when the temple’s founder, a priest called Shinetsu, gave out simple paintings to local farmers. Almost a century later, it says, Togaku carved the first daruma from driftwood and taught the farmers the technique as a craft to see them through famine.
- Visit Gunma says there are many theories. It gives one: after a famine around 200 years ago, a temple monk made a mould for farmers to sell the figures at festivals as a sideline.
All three agree on Shorinzan, a famine and farmers. They do not agree on the date or on whether the first doll was carved or moulded. Wikipedia adds that the daruma later merged with the tumbler doll, and that the two were regarded as synonymous by the mid-nineteenth century. Visit Gunma names the weighted self-righting toy, okiagari-koboshi, as the inspiration for the rounded shape.
Silk and the 80 per cent
Wikipedia’s article on Takasaki says the city accounts for about 80 per cent of the national market, and that the industry grew out of silkworm farming, since the doll’s round form resembles a cocoon. Wikipedia’s daruma article quotes the Takasaki city website as saying Takasaki produces 80 per cent of Japan’s daruma. Visit Gunma says around 80 per cent, and that the charms were especially popular with silk farmers, whose livelihoods depended on luck. Japan Guide says over 80 per cent. We report the figure as “about 80 per cent” and note that it comes from the city and the tourism bodies. Visit Gunma also says each traditional daruma is individually hand-painted. It names one workshop, Daimonya, as the largest producer, and says visitors can paint their own there.
The January market
Wikipedia says the daruma market, daruma-ichi, is held each year by Takasaki at Shorinzan and attracts over 400,000 visitors, without giving dates. Visit Gunma gives them: the Shorinzan Nanakusa Taisai Daruma Market Festival starts on 6 January and runs to the 7th. It calls the market a popular time to choose a daruma for the year.
What happens to an old one
Wikipedia says daruma are returned to the temple where they were bought for a yearly ceremony, daruma kuyo, usually just after New Year’s Day, and that all the dolls are burned together, with the article describing tens of thousands. It names Nishi-Arai Daishi in Tokyo and Dairyu-ji in Gifu as the best-known ceremonies. Visit Gunma says to take the doll a year after buying it to a temple, shrine or hatsuichi festival in Gunma and have it burned, whether or not the wish came true, and then buy a new one. It names the Maebashi Hatsuichi Festival, held every January, as one place for this. The two do not quite match on timing. Our reading: the temple ceremony is the moment of return, and the year is the time you keep the doll before it.
Dates in order
- End of the seventeenth century: the temple’s founder gives out painted charms, according to Japan Guide.
- 1764 to 1772, Meiwa period: moulded papier-mache charms made by farmers, according to Wikipedia.
- Mid-nineteenth century: daruma and tumbler doll regarded as synonymous, according to Wikipedia.
- 6 and 7 January: the Shorinzan market, according to Visit Gunma.
What kind of sources these are
Wikipedia, which anyone can edit; Visit Gunma, the prefecture’s official tourism guide, which was last updated in August 2024; and Japan Guide, whose article is built around Gunma’s tourism page and reads partly as a first-person visit, which we have not repeated. All three promote the town to some degree. We found no protected name or label for Takasaki daruma in these pages, so we do not advise on how to tell a genuine doll from a copy.
What we left out
Prices, shop details, the doll’s religious meaning, the legend of the monk it depicts, and Visit Gunma’s remark about politicians filling in the second eye. Some of that belongs to doctrine, and the rest our sources treat only briefly.
Quick answers
Which eye do you paint first on a daruma?
According to Wikipedia and Visit Gunma, the left eye is painted when you set a goal, and the right eye when it is achieved.
Where are most daruma made?
Takasaki in Gunma Prefecture. The city website, quoted by Wikipedia, says it produces 80 per cent of Japan’s daruma, and Visit Gunma says around 80 per cent.
When is the Takasaki daruma market?
Visit Gunma says the Shorinzan Nanakusa Taisai Daruma Market Festival starts on 6 January and runs to the 7th.
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