Black Crested Formal Kimono Dyeing in Nagoya

Before I read an English version in the Japan Times this week of an article that originally ran in the Chunichi Shinbun newspaper, I had admittedly begun to take black crested formal kimono for granted.  As elegant as they are, I've seen hundreds of used kimono like this at Kyoto's famed monthly markets at Toji Temple and Kitano Tenmanghu Shrine.

I've bought many of them over the years for resale, and the prices are always very reasonable because when Japanese people do buy vintage kimono for wear or projects these days, this type is of relatively limited use. As formal kimono they include family crests, and it's always interesting to look at a crest to see if it's an often seen one or not.  There are hundreds of crests, with many that look quite similar with small variations.  Some crests are more common in certain parts of Japan, so there is a geographical component to them as well.  

Other than the crests, well, black is elegant, but black's black, or so I've always thought. That's what was so enlightening about the story about a Nagoya dye company and the two brothers who are striving to adapt to a changing marketplace.  It turns out that traditionally made black crested kimono have an especially deep tone which includes just a bit of blue and red.

Living as I do in Nishijin, traditionally Kyoto's weaving center, I'll well acquainted with the challenges that traditional kimono and obi makers face, and I've seen numerous attempts at changing their product lines to combat sagging sales as fewer and fewer Japanese wear kimono.  I've even seen dog wear made of silk brocade of the type traditionally associated with fine obi.  

Nagoya's Nakamura brothers are betting that their dyeing and designing skills will make such new products such as t-shirts and stoles appealing to a new generation. Other companies, including at least one in Kyoto, specialize in dyeing their clients' old clothes black.  Which seems like another great way to put traditional skills to use, and also to give used clothing a new lease on life.

I didn't know that Nagoya has long been a center of kuro-montsuki black crested kimono dyeing. But thanks to this article, I looked and in no time ran across an informative English video about another Nagoya dyeing company! This one is run by the Takeda family.  Mr. Takeda is seen below dyeing various kimono, and the focus shifts to black dyeing and family crests just after the five-minute mark.  

source http://kyotocollection.com/blog/black-crested-formal-kimono-dyeing-in-nagoya/

Shinmei-ichi Festival: Home of the Largest Daruma Doll in Japan?

I've been writing a lot about daruma dolls this week and found a column from 2004 on the Japan Times website by Amy Chavez, who chronicled her quest to buy a daruma doll at the Shinmei-ichi Daruma Doll Festival in Mihara with her usual flair.

I hadn't heard of the festival before, and it sounds like a good excuse to get to know that beautiful area on the Seto Inland Sea in Hiroshima Prefecture better. As the festival has just come and gone for another year though, I'll have to wait a while before the chance comes around again!

I also learned that Shinmei is another name for the sun goddess Amaterasu, a major deity in the shinto faith.

If you happen to be in Japan some future February, it seems like a fun way to sample local cuisine as well as see lots of daruma dolls!  It's been held for over 400 years, so it seems safe to assume that it will continue to be a festive February option.  

Hundreds of street stalls offer a variety of temptations.  And then there are the daruma dolls. A huge daruma doll is on display and proudly bears the kanji characters 日本一(Nihon Ichi) to signify that it's the largest in Japan. Check the short video below to see what it you can expect if you go.  At 30 seconds into the clip you'll see a row of daruma dolls lined up for sale according to size and the camera pans from big to small. In case you're curious, here are the prices for the largest three:  15 was going for ¥20000($175USD), 14 for ¥15000($132USD) and 13 for ¥10000($89). I don't know if I'd be willing to part with mine after a year at those prices!

source http://kyotocollection.com/blog/shinmeiichi-festival-home-of-the-largest-daruma-doll-in-japan/

Yukidaruma

I've been writing about daruma dolls this week and as a student of the language, it brought to mind one of my favorite compound nouns in Japanese.  If you know the word for 'snow' in Japanese and pair it with 'daruma' you also now know how to say 'snowman'!  

Have you ever made a yukidaruma? Growing up in L.A. I didn't have the chance, and it only snows enough in Kyoto City these days to make it possible a few times every winter.  This winter we did it once, and the 'yuki' had mostly melted just a few hours later.  Neighbors in their 80's have told me stories over the years of snow falling more often and they have memories of significant accumulation. 

For better or worse, snow these days is a novelty and something to be savored, at least in the city proper.  It just doesn't seem to stick once it lands. 

That certainly makes winters more convenient, but I hope the trend doesn't continue-it would be a shame not to have the chance to hear the crunch of a couple centimeters of fresh snow underfoot while scanning the streets for the neighbors' kids' yukidaruma before they disappear.  Cherry blossoms are celebrated as a reminder of transience, but they seem to last an eternity compared with the yukidaruma in these parts!

It's always a good bet to use a literal translation from your mother tongue when you're trying to communicate in another language, and even if it's not exactly right, chances are you'll be able to express what you wanted to say.  Using that strategy with the word 'snowman' however would likely raise eyebrows and might even illicit an incredulous giggle.  In Japanese, knowing the word for man, 'otoko', might lead you to create the compound noun 'yukiotoko' for 'snowman.'  It's a good guess, but it actually refers to that elusive creature we call yeti or the abominable snowman!

The furoshiki above can be found in my store and features a yukidaruma on a snowy day and a cat curled up on a heated low table called a kotatsu.  There's a heating element underneath and the blanket keeps the warm air from escaping.  It's a lovely way to pass the time on a cold winter's day, but as you can see, it's all too easy to doze off! 

source http://kyotocollection.com/blog/yukidaruma/

The Making of a Daruma Doll

What is a daruma doll made out of?  Ask me and I'll say something about papier mache, which sounds so much better in its original French than the literal English translation of chewed paper! Beyond that I really had never seen anyone make one.  I was curious to know more about the process involved in making daruma, and I've also been wanting to get some Japanese language practice watching Japanese videos on youtube.

I came across a very well done short video produced by a Japanese company in Japanese. It's one of many interesting installments in a series they're chosen an English name for, 'The Making.'  The episodes are both entertaining and educational and show how various things are made. This episode features daruma dolls and is 14 minutes long.  It uses Japanese subtitles to illuminate the steps shown without any spoken words. The only audio is a pleasant soundtrack.  So it happens to be very accessible even if you speak no Japanese at all.  

The first 3 1/2 minutes of the video shows how to make a daruma doll by hand, and the video was shot at Shorinzan temple in Gunma Prefecture, also known as 'daruma-ji.' 

The temple was a natural location for this video because it's considered the birthplace of the Takasaki daruma doll. These are the most famed daruma dolls in Japan and the local city of Takasaki still is a major producer, accounting for about 80% of Japan's daruma dolls!

You'll notice that a key component of this handmade method is a daruma to use as a form on which to base the shape of the new doll.  So if you don't already have a daruma doll to use in this way, it's not practical for the beginner who wants to make their own daruma doll.  Still, it's quite interesting and shows quite clearly how daruma dolls have been made over the centuries, before more mechanized methods came into use.

at the 3 1/2 minute mark the focus shifts to more modern methods of mass production, and this takes up the bulk of the show.  Notice that the facial features are still painted by hand, even with the modern approach!  One of my favorites parts was watching the craftsman so deftly adding the characteristic facial hair to the dolls!

source http://kyotocollection.com/blog/the-making-of-a-daruma-doll/

Daruma Dolls: Kanji and Color Meanings

In sitting down to write about the rainbow of colors that daruma dolls come in these days, I'm reminded of a TED talk by the author Malcolm Gladwell called 'Choice, happiness and spaghetti sauce' that related the story of a consultant, one of Mr. Gladwell's personal heroes, who has been hired by various companies over the years to identify consumer taste preferences. 

What was so interesting about the talk was the revelation that the genius of Howard Moskowitz is that he realized that the very notion of the perfect Pepsi or Prego sauce was was ill conceived.  Instead of searching for the holy grail in terms of taste profiles, companies came to see that there is no perfect Pepsi, but rather perfect Pepsi's. There's no one formula that will make the multitudes happy.  So why not offer a variety to serve various preferences and through that, increase market share?  Curious, I went to Prego's website and counted at least 40 kinds of pasta sauce!

Red Daruma Dolls

Red is traditionally the color most associated with these dolls, and I'd bet that it's still the most popular one for dolls sold in Japan.  Red is an auspicious color that some believe has the power to ward off evil spirits, disaster and illness.  The traditional red daruma is said to be modeled on Buddhist priest robes. Shinto too seems to venerate this color, as torii shrine gates through which parishioners pass are either red or vermilion.

Red is a celebratory color in Japan and carries with it numerous positive connotations. When people turn 60 in Japan, they celebrate their 'kanreki' by donning a jaunty red vest and cap to mark the occasion, which is seen as a sort of rebirth and return to the beginning of the life cycle. Red also has strong associations with victory, which is why political candidates choose red daruma when they’re running for office.

I'm partial to red daruma, so I bought the small one pictured below the other day when we went to a Kyoto temple known for daruma dolls that's called Daruma-dera. It has a hole drilled in the bottom with an 'omikuji' fortune paper inside, and it's sitting on my table watching me at this moment!

Red daruma invite good fortune in the most general sense, so if you like red and want to go the traditional route, it's always a good choice.  Mine has eyes that are already painted and a splash of festive hues in a floral pattern that gives it a cheery look.

Other Colors and Their Meanings

If you gravitate toward another color or have a specific goal in mind and want to put a finer point on things, there are daruma of various hues that will be happy to call your house their home. Sometimes they're sold in sets of five different colors, each with a specific power. Such sets are called goshiki daruma. The word goshiki literally means ‘five colors.'

Some colors and their qualities are:

Purple-health and longevity. Purple is a regal color that is associated with the imperial line, and it’s connected with such qualities as character and integrity.

Yellow-as with gold, there’s an expected association with financial good fortune as well as a more general connection to good fortune.

Gold-wealth and prosperity. The obvious choice of color when career advancement and economic gain are in sharp focus.

White-the color of choice for students studying for rigorous school entrance exams that are such a common and stressful rite of passage in Japan. More generally white is associated with goal attainment.

Black-success in business ventures. A good color for entrepreneurs.

Blue-success in school and the development of the intellect.

Silver-promotes self-awareness and self-development. Expectant mothers also sometimes choose silver because it’s said that it makes an easy delivery more likely.

Green-physical health. Also the development of talent and skill. This ties into the connection between the color green and plants budding, and calls to mind the English expression 'budding talent.' 

Orange-couples who want children choose this color and it also offers protection against disaster.

Peach-this is a color of love and attracts romance and passion.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, as I've seen mention of different shades of blue and green, etc.! The furoshiki wrapping cloth below is one that's available in my store and it features just a few of the colors that daruma dolls now sport.

Daruma Doll Kanji Meaning

The three daruma dolls depicted on the fabric above happen to not only have different colors, but also different kanji characters written on them. The red one has the most often seen character, pronounced 'fuku.'  This refers to good fortune in a general sense, which is why it's so common. The yellow daruma specifically attracts money, and so it includes the character for money, 'okane.' The purple doll has a character read as 'kotobuki' which is often used for weddings and other special occasions, as it carries the meaning of long life and longevity as well as congratulations. The two characters in the middle of the rising sun in back of the dolls are pronounced 'kai-un' which is another way to convey a message of good fortune.  These two characters in fact are also sometimes written on daruma dolls as well.

What color is your daruma doll?

source http://kyotocollection.com/blog/daruma-dolls-kanji-and-color-meanings-/

Daruma Dolls: How Long Can I Keep Mine?

What do you do with a Daruma after you've achieved your goal and colored the second eye? It's a good question, because there is indeed a protocol for daruma, and for good luck charms in general, and a daruma doll offers itself as a wonderful window onto interesting aspects of traditional Japanese culture.  But at the same time, as you'll see, there's no need to feel compelled to do any particular thing, and the key is to act according to your own feelings.

Daruma dolls are associated with New Year’s in Japan and are usually bought at this time. 12 months later at the start of the new year they’re taken to a temple where they’re ceremonially burned in a ceremony called Daruma Kuyou, and a new one is bought. So If you happen to live near a Buddhist temple that has such an event and you are so inclined, you might take advantage of it. This is a sort of memorial service that offers a chance to reflect on the year that just ended and express gratitude for the good things it brought. It’s a poignant way to usher in a new year of possibilities, and perhaps to buy a new daruma doll, too! As with other Japanese charms, simply throwing it in the trash is inappropriate.

But having said this, parting with your daruma doll is only an option, not a requirement. The subject of dolls in this context brings hina dolls to my mind as a contrast. Hina ningyo are the set of dolls including an emperor and empress and their court that are displayed at home by families with daughters for Girls' Day, which is celebrated on March 3rd. As lovely as the display is, you’ll be very challenged to find any still out after March 4th, as according to tradition, families that don’t put the dolls back in their storage boxes by the 4th risk late marriages for their daughters!

Daruma dolls don't come with any such caveat and can be kept and displayed indefinitely, if you so choose. One cozy little restaurant that I frequent has one rather large daruma on a shelf on permanent display for each year they’ve been open. It’s a fun way for them to commemorate their years in business and show appreciation to their customers for their shop’s longevity. Obviously they have no fear of incurring bad luck by keeping their menagerie! Now that they’ve been in business for a dozen years or so, they have quite an impressive row of daruma dolls standing sentinel. It won’t be long before they need another shelf!

When we visited Kyoto's Daruma-dera recently, which is a temple here known for its collection of over 8,000 daruma dolls, the priest's wife mentioned one parishioner who kept the same daruma doll for some 30 years, not wanting to part with it. In the end, it was placed in his coffin before his cremation. This underscored for us her belief that there are no hard and fast rules with this, and the story and the beautiful way in which she took the time to relate it to us gave me a deep sense of her focus on the spirit that the dolls are meant to convey rather than details.

So if you prefer to hang onto your daruma after a year has passed, you should by all means do that. One thing to remember is this-display your daruma doll in a place where you can see him, so that you’ll be reminded to take steps, however small, toward the goal you had in mind when you gave him his first eye.  He will serve as a gentle reminder of the principles that bring happiness, which is much more valuable than any luck. This is really where the Daruma’s true power lies, after all.

source http://kyotocollection.com/blog/daruma-dolls-how-long-can-i-keep-mine/

Daruma Dolls: Can I Keep Mine After my Goal is Reached?

What do you do with a Daruma after you've achieved your goal and colored the second eye? It's a good question, because there is indeed a protocol for daruma, and for good luck charms in general, and a daruma doll offers itself as a wonderful window onto interesting aspects of traditional Japanese culture.  But at the same time, as you'll see, there's no need to feel compelled to do any particular thing, and the key is to act according to your own feelings.

Daruma dolls are associated with New Year’s in Japan and are usually bought at this time. 12 months later at the start of the new year they’re taken to a temple where they’re ceremonially burned in a ceremony called Daruma Kuyou, and a new one is bought. So If you happen to live near a Buddhist temple that has such an event and you are so inclined, you might take advantage of it. This is a sort of memorial service that offers a chance to reflect on the year that just ended and express gratitude for the good things it brought. It’s a poignant way to usher in a new year of possibilities, and perhaps to buy a new daruma doll, too! As with other Japanese charms, simply throwing it in the trash is inappropriate.

But having said this, parting with your daruma doll is only an option, not a requirement. The subject of dolls in this context brings hina dolls to my mind as a contrast. Hina ningyo are the set of dolls including an emperor and empress and their court that are displayed at home by families with daughters for Girls' Day, which is celebrated on March 3rd. As lovely as the display is, you’ll be very challenged to find any still out after March 4th, as according to tradition, families that don’t put the dolls back in their storage boxes by the 4th risk late marriages for their daughters!

Daruma dolls don't come with any such caveat and can be kept and displayed indefinitely, if you so choose. One cozy little restaurant that I frequent has one rather large daruma on a shelf on permanent display for each year they’ve been open. It’s a fun way for them to commemorate their years in business and show appreciation to their customers for their shop’s longevity. Obviously they have no fear of incurring bad luck by keeping their menagerie! Now that they’ve been in business for a dozen years or so, they have quite an impressive row of daruma dolls standing sentinel. It won’t be long before they need another shelf!

When we visited Kyoto's Daruma-dera recently, which is a temple here known for its collection of over 8,000 daruma dolls, the priest's wife mentioned one parishioner who kept the same daruma doll for some 30 years, not wanting to part with it. In the end, it was placed in his coffin before his cremation. This underscored for us her belief that there are no hard and fast rules with this, and the story and the beautiful way in which she took the time to relate it to us gave me a deep sense of her focus on the spirit that the dolls are meant to convey rather than details.

So if you prefer to hang onto your daruma after a year has passed, you should by all means do that. One thing to remember is this-display your daruma doll in a place where you can see him, so that you’ll be reminded to take steps, however small, toward the goal you had in mind when you gave him his first eye.  He will serve as a gentle reminder of the principles that bring happiness, which is much more valuable than any luck. This is really where the Daruma’s true power lies, after all.

source http://kyotocollection.com/blog/daruma-dolls-can-i-keep-mine-after-my-goal-is-reached/

Daruma Dolls: History and Meaning

Daruma Dolls and Zen

What is a daruma doll? It's a representation of the Buddhist monk Bohidharma, who lived in the 5th or 6th century. Bodhidharma is recognized as the founder of the zen sect of Buddhism. Only the daruma doll's face is visible, the rest of the figure resembles a priest's robe.

Zen Buddhism has garnered attention in the west as a means to cultivate mindfulness. Formal sitting meditation is but one aspect of this training. In general, it promotes a greater awareness of what's going on around you, of the reality that exists outside of ourselves and the narrative that our thoughts create, and the resulting lenses that we see the world through.

In this spirit of seeing what is in front of us, I'd like to offer up a simple exercise-take a moment to really look at a daruma! It occurred to me in writing this that though I have seen hundreds of daruma over the decades of living here in Kyoto, if asked to make a cursory drawing of his face from memory or describe it, I would have little confidence in my ability to recall anything clearly aside from his eyes and his robe!

Facial Features

Daruma dolls made in the traditional way feature a face framed by ample eyebrows and a beard. There's an understated line representing his mouth that gives him a stoic look, and his robe is embellished with bold but simple brush strokes, often in gold.

I've read that if you look carefully at his stylized facial hair you'll find cranes in his eyebrows and turtle shells on his cheeks. That very well may be, and I went looking in his eyebrows for cranes and found them, one on each side-then I found others! So I ended up wondering what I was seeing and what I was imagining! Maybe I've found a new use for daruma dolls-as rorschach tests!

Cranes and turtles are both symbols of longevity in Japan, with the crane said to live 1000 years and the turtle 10,000 years. This makes them very common symbols in Japanese art, especially in connection with auspicious occasions like weddings. One furoshiki in my shop in fact features a crane and turtle together, in a traditional pose with the crane standing on the turtle's back.

Meaning

Take a look at a daruma doll-what do you see? It's believed that daruma dolls were introduced in the 1700's by a priest at a temple in order to satisfy his parishioners' desire for new charms. As a talisman, there are different ways to look at a daruma. Some might color in an eye and make a wish in the same way you'd make a wish when blowing out the candles of a birthday cake. I can't remember being disappointed when such a wish didn't come true, because I never even deeply thought about what I would wish for before the cake was set in front of me, and I knew that I wasn't committing myself to doing anything to help to make the wish come true.

Personally, I think that having a daruma doll can be a great way to buoy yourself up when you're striving to attain some goal that you've chosen thoughtfully and are committed to working toward attaining. The reason for this lies in the doll's association with an often used Japanese proverb, 'nana korobi ya oki' which translates as 'Get knocked down seven times, get up eight.'

This saying has its roots in zen and quite pithily conveys the essence of that Buddhist sect in its message of perseverance in the face of adversity and resilience, and a stoic commitment to seeing something through. This dedication infers a focus on the present moment and what we can make of it.

Poke a daruma doll and you'll see why it has become so associated with this saying. Though it might look unstable at first glance and easy to topple, it comes right back up. You can't keep it down. I'm about to date myself and American pop culture references can't do justice to the wisdom and beauty of the expression above. But it does somehow take me back to a TV commercial that I must have seen a thousand times in the 70's......weebles wobble but they don't fall down!

I've taken part in some meditation sessions and at times a priest would circulate among us 'sitters' and stop at times to hit someone on the shoulder with a piece of wood. It wasn't hard enough to hurt, but it certainly does tend to bring you back to the moment!

Daruma dolls are very useful for goal setting and achievement as reminders of the goal we've set for ourselves. We take the time to clarify the goal and to imagine achieving it when we color in the first eye, and put the daruma doll in a place where it can be seen(and where it can see us!). Over the next year, it serves as a physical manifestation of the commitment felt on that day when a pupil was drawn in that blank space where eyes should be.

Let the daruma doll remind you of that as you use your days to challenge yourself by devoting time and effort to your goal, no matter how uphill the process feels at times. And just remember that for better or worse you won't be pulled back to your focus with a sudden whack on your shoulder, but with a watchful eye!

source http://kyotocollection.com/blog/daruma-dolls-history-and-meaning/

Daruma Dolls: Which Eye First?

It’s only after you've already bought a daruma doll and are gazing at its curious countenance while cradling it in one palm that you're likely to consider this question.

'Which daruma doll eye should I color first?' Daruma are sold without eyes being painted on them, and the pupils are filled in by the owner. The first pupil is drawn when you decide on the goal you want to enlist the doll's help in attaining, and the other gets filled in at some point during the next 12 months when you've reached it.

Many sources say that you should color the left eye first. And by this, by the way, they mean the doll's left eye, not the eye that is on your left as you face him. Knowing this important detail will certainly clarify things if you saw such advice online and were wondering whose left it was referring to!

But now that I’ve cleared that up, I’m going to say something that makes it moot. Because in fact, it doesn’t matter which eye you color when you make your wish or goal.

Even though I’ve lived in Japan since 1997 and have colored my share of daruma doll eyes, I wasn’t really sure which pupil should be filled in first until I started writing this article, as I assumed there was a right and a wrong way to do this and I'd forgotten which eye I'd chosen in the not so recent past!

For the answer, I went straight to the horse’s mouth. In this case, since my daruma doll itself was mum on the subject, that means I checked with an organization of daruma doll makers called Gunma Daruma Doll Manufacturers’ Cooperative Union. Gunma is a prefecture that includes Takasaki City, where about 80% of Japan’s daruma dolls are made. On their website the association notes the prevailing advice about the left eye, but goes on to refute it by saying that ‘there is no correct order of painting eyes on a daruma doll.’

So why is it mentioned in so many places that a certain eye should be colored first? When it comes to getting assistance of the kind that the daruma doll is said to offer, there are certain prescribed steps that must be taken, to be sure. But it seems to me that there’s also a natural tendency to think that the more steps that are involved and the more specific they are, the better the chance of a positive outcome! And then there’s the cultural predilection for process in Japan. The way something is done often seems to rival the result itself in importance.


So there you have it. Gunma Prefecture itself also has a website by the way, which is a more general resource that covers a plethora of topics related to goings on all over the prefecture, with a mention included about the daruma doll makers in Takasaki City. Interestingly, the writers of this Gunma Prefecture site, despite their proximity to the center of Japan's daruma doll production, seem to have accepted conventional wisdom because they mention that when a wish or goal decided on, the left eye is colored in!

But that just goes to show how hard it can be to pin down information these days when we have so many resources to choose from on the web! I’m still going with the makers’ association’s site. It seems to me that if those folks don’t know what they’re talking about, I think we really are out of luck!

source http://kyotocollection.com/blog/-daruma-dolls-which-eye-first/