daruma

This Daruma outfit is another present from our friends Chizuko, Stuart and Zen in Yokohama. Thanks! We love it. I might be getting this story all mixed up, so anyone can correct me if I'm getting it wrong, but here's how I understand it: Daruma is the Japanese name for Bodhidharma, the Indian monk who created Zen Buddhism in the 5th or 6th century. Legend says he lost his arms and legs after meditating in a cave for nine years straight, so he's usually represented in Japan as a big round head.









Does Oscar look a little bit like Kim Jong Il in some of these pictures? Like a happy baby version of Kim Jong Il anyway? It's the hair. And the cheeks. Oscar hasn't been testing any missiles that we know of. And Kim Jong Il isn't dressing up in a Daruma costume either.




















In Japan most people get a big Daruma head every year from their local Shinto shrine - the Jinja, usually around New Year's. It has big blank eyes, and you're supposed to fill in one eye when you get it. At the end of the year - or when you achieve a goal - you fill in the second eye and you take it back to the Jinja where they burn it for you. In these pictures Wakaba's sister, Hana-chan, is filling in the new Daruma eye. I'm with the old Daruma with both eyes filled in.