Daruma doll

達磨 daruma

The roly-poly Dharma doll stands for perseverance ('fall seven times, get up eight'), wishes coming true, family safety and victory.

Takasaki (Gunma), mid-18th century; tumbler dolls from the 17th century

Daruma is Bodhidharma, the Indian monk credited with founding Zen, long painted by Japanese Zen artists. The red legless doll is thought to have begun at Shōrinzan Daruma-ji in Takasaki around the Meiwa era (1764–72), where parishioners pressed papier-mâché charms from temple moulds; it merged with the older self-righting okiagari-koboshi toy. In the late Edo period red Daruma were also used against smallpox, whose god was believed to favour red.

Owners paint in one eye when making a wish and the other when it comes true; Takasaki still makes most daruma.