Get Good Luck at the Jindaiji Temple Daruma Doll Festival (だるま祭り)

◉About Daruma◉

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  Normally red, 
  daruma are hollow traditional handmade Japanese wishing dolls
  and is a big part of Buddhism.
  The daruma dolls are modeled after Bodhidharma,
  a famous 5th~6th century Buddhist monk in China 
  who is said to be the founder of Zen Buddhism.
  In Japan however, he is known as Daruma and the resemblance of
  the person and the doll is pretty interesting. 
  It's also said that Bodhidharma (Daruma) meditated for nine years straight,
  causing his limbs to eventually degenerate,
  which is why the daruma dolls are rounded and look the way they do.

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  Image source Zen Buddhism

  There are a lot of rumors and beliefs
  to why the daruma's eyes aren't filled in.
  Some believe it's to depict Bodhidharma (Daruma)
  because during his nine-year meditation,
  he fell asleep for most of it and when he woke up
  he was so angry so he cut his eyelids off 
  to prevent from falling asleep again during meditation.
  Which is pretty dark but cool at the same time.
  Others say it's to represent enlightenment, 
  and other's just have no clue of its deep meaning
  and only know you make a wish while drawing a filled in circle on one eye,
  then once it comes true fill in the other eye.  

• 

  Originally daruma are red, which stand for overall good luck and fortune.
  However those with more specific wishes and goals,
  you can choose a specific color of daruma. 
  Many stands at the festival had charts
  showing what color represented what.
  Some colors had the same meaning across the board,
  whereas others were different.
  So we think besides the traditional red daruma, 
  there really isn't a standard meaning per color.
  It may just depend on the craftsman of the daruma.
  But if in doubt, you can always just go for the red daruma.

• 

  Some examples of the colors and meanings are:
  Red - Overal good luck
  Pink - Love (find a boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife)
  Gold - Wealth, improve talents
  Yellow - Safety
  Blue - Pray for your deepest prayers to be answered, success in school/test
  Purple - Health
  Green - Longevity (purple and green often switch)
  Really though when you get down to it,
  darumas are somewhat of a representation of your goals and strength.
  So regardless the color, you are announcing your goals and wishes and showing your proactivity. 

There Were All Kinds of Daruma

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  Besides the different colors,
  what was fun about this festival was that no daruma looked the same. 
  Even the red ones!
  Take the top darumas in the picture above.
  Notice that their eyebrows are different
  from the smaller one in the corner?
  Their eyebrows contain the Chinese character 寿 (kotobuki),
  which means longevity.

• 

  I learned that day that even the facial hair has a deep representation. Can you see a couple of images within the facial hair?? They took two animals from the Asian culture that symbolizes longevity and incorporated them into the daruma's facial hair. The eyebrows are supposed to be cranes, and the cheek parts of the beard are tortoises or tortoise shells.🐢 In many Asian cultures they say cranes live for 1,000 years, and turtles for 10,000 years. So by including both represents the desire for a long life. The cranes I can kind of see....but not the tortoise. Then this daruma specifically (in the picture above), the chin part of the beard is Mt. Fuji.🗻

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  There were also Japanese ceramic bells (土鈴; dorei) painted as daruma.

• 

   Recently was Girls Day, or Hina Matsuri (ひな祭り), so there were even "Hina Matsuri daruma". Not as cute as the real hina dolls but the idea is still cute!🎎

• 

  It wasn't until later on that we got the feeling....
  That daruma, especially when they're in a group...

• 

  Are really just like soulless zombies. Their empty eyes with the strong rings around them are actually a bit creepy after a while.

• 

  We got a more decorative daruma,
  completely covered in Japanese paper, washi.
  We took it up to the monks and got its eye filled in.
  While the eye is getting filled in,
  you're supposed to wish for something but I was too preoccupied
  taking pictures and watching the monk write the character
  I forgot to make a wish.
  So I hope my husband made one for the both of us!

• 

  Notice how its eyes are a circle,
  different to the Sanskrit characters the monks here at Jindaiji write. 
  You will mostly see darumas with these kinds of eyes.
  One of the vendors told us that getting the eye filled in with these Sanskrit characters is really rare and a special custom to Jindaiji Temple.
  So we are really glad we got to experience this
  and if you get a chance to next festival, you should!

• 

  And here's our super cool Jindaiji daruma doll!
  It doesn't cost anything to get an eye filled in by the monks, 
  however, donations are appreciated of course.

〇Other Things at During the Daruma Festival◉

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  Jindaiji is known for its delicious soba,
  but another popular food there is this grilled mochi!!
  There is sweet bean paste inside,
  and you can either get it plain or covered in kinako,
  which is like roasted soy flour. 

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  If buying a daruma isn't really something you're too interested in but want to get SOMETHING as souvenir...then Japanese temples and shrines have a really unique thing where you can get honorable stamps. Many people in Japan own a stamp book, Goshuinchou (御朱印帳), and they take it to temples and shrines all over Japan to get stamped. We have a stamp book too but forgot to bring it with us. So for those who forget or don't have a book, you can just buy the stamp on a sheet of paper. Then if you have a book you can glue it in later. These stamps are normally really cheap, depending on the shrine/temple ranges from 200yen~500yen.