Goshiki Daruma and Color Symbols
五色だるま―色彩散歩
Goshiki means "Five Colors", something colorful and beautiful.
The first HP I encountered checking about GOSHIKI in German was about
a sort of decorative carp fish with that name. So let us start with a
look at beauiful carps.
ドイツのＨＰを調べたところ、一番最初にあらわれたのは、この錦鯉の写真でした。
 Goshiki |
http://www.walker-tuebingen.de/weitere_Seiten/Koigalerie.html
But todays subject is more serious. The concept GOSHIKI comes from Buddhist
philosphy, so I quote part of an excellent explanation of this online
dictionary:
五識{I} The five consciousnesses produced in connection with the five sense organs of eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin, which take as their objects the five physical categories of form, sound, smell, taste and tactile objects: therefore, the visual consciousness 眼識, auditory consciousness 耳識, olfactory consciousness 鼻識, gustatory consciousness 舌識 and tactile consciousness 身識.
{II} The five consciousnesses taught in the Awakening of Faith: (1) The
activity (karmic) consciousness 業識, which arises with the unenlightened
mind due to original ignorance. (2) The changing (transforming) consciousness
轉識, wherein the activity consciousness undergoes a single transformation
producing the subjective view. (3) The manifesting consciousness 現識,
in which based on transformation of the activity consciousness the objective
world is manifested. (4) The knowing consciousness 智識, in which the
mind creates mistaken discrimination based on its perception of the objects
in the external world. (5) The continuing consciousness 相續識, wherein,
based on mistaken discrimination, the thoughts of pain and pleasure continue
without abatement, thus enabling the continuity of sa.ms_ra.
http://pears2.lib.ohio-state.edu/acmuller/dicts/ubdict/data/007.htm
Daruma Dolls in five colors are ment to remind us of these truths all
the time.
五色だるま張子はその難しい問題を忘れさせないように作られています。
 深大寺達磨 |
The Heart Sutra 般若心経 teaches us: "All color is void, all void is color".Color means worldly affairs, or on a more scholarly level, the five Skandhas. Read the following extensive HP, if you are seriously interested in this subject.
"During his practice of contemplation and illumination the Bodhisattva
Avalokitesvara (観音菩薩) attained Truth. By means of his minutely subtle
Dharma practice he penetrated the five skandhas, perceiving them as empty.....".
http://www.buddhanet.net/heartl03.htm
From the Great Buddhist Dictionary (仏教大辞典、小学館) we can learn the
following: The five basic colors are Green, Yellow, Red, White and Black.
They refer to the five Skandhas (goshiki 五識), the five Wisdoms (gochi
五知) or the five Buddhas (gobutsu 五佛) as an expression of the various
Buddhist teachings. In Japan there was the custom during the Heian period
to hang a scroll of Buddha Amida Nyorai in front of a dying person, whith
a fivecolored string (goshiki no ito 五色の糸) coming from the hand of
the Buddha extending to the hands of the person. If you hold it firmly
during your last minutes, you were assured a strait passage to the Paradise
of the West (Amida Joodo 阿弥陀浄土).
One of the objects in the hand of a Kannon with 1000 Hands (Senju Kannon
千手観音) is a Fivecolored Cloud (goshikiun 五色雲). The water poured
over the head of the statue of Shakyamuni as a child during the festival
for his birthday on April 8 (kanbutsu-e潅仏会) is called Fivecolored Water
(goshikisui 五色水).
基本色は青、黄、赤、白と黒。五識、五知、五佛など、さまざまな仏教教義の象徴としてよく用いられる。平安時代に、臨終に際して五色の糸を阿弥陀佛の手から垂らし、それをつかんで浄土に導かれることを願う習慣が盛んに行われた。千手観音の五色雲、潅仏会の五色水などなど。（省略）。
But what are these five colors?
Read about the
Tibetan Prayer Flags (there is a lot more
info about Tibetan Buddhism on this HP)
The flags are fashioned in colors representing the elements of the universe.
Blue is the sky; White is for the clouds; Red is fire; Green is water;
and Yellow is for the earth. Each wave of the flag by the wind is considered
one complete reading of the prayers printed on the flags.
http://www.karmacarpets.com/tibetan.htm
You can order Japanese Prayer Flags in Five Colors (goshiki ban) and
a lot of other ritual equipment right here.
五色旗はこちらで。
http://www.sanpoh.co.jp/shinsaigu/frame.htm
The five colors theory according to the old Chinese philospohy of YIN/YANG
has the following chart:
In Edo there were five temples with five identical statues of Fudoo Myoo
(Acala) (Goshiki Fudoo 五色不動) to secure supernatural power for the
protection of the city from the north. The stautes only differed in the
color of the eyes: The place names for the black eyed Meguro and the white
eyed Mejiro are still used in Tokyo today. The red eyed was in Komagome,
the yellow eyed in Komatsugawa and the green eyed in Setagaya.
Have a short look at Fudoo Myoo on this HP.(See the
ANZAN story.)
不動明王の説明はこちら。
http://www.shingon.org/deities/jusanbutsu/fudo.html
The following HP shows a lot of pictures about the five Fudoo temples,
so have a look even if it is in Japanese.
http://www.mars.dti.ne.jp/~tomiaki/goshiki/gmain.html
http://members.tripod.co.jp/Don_Quijote/domestic2/goshiki_fudo.html
Mr. Ogawa describes the five Fudoo Temples during his stroll in the area.
http://hamadayori.hoops.ne.jp/0006/goshiki.html
Meguro Fudoo 目黒のお不動さま
The most famous of these five Fudoo is the one in Meguro, where even today
on the 28th of each month, the day dedicated to Fudoo, there is a huge
festival and bazaar in the temple grounds where I always went to check
out Daruma dolls and antiques. If you visit there, do not forget to walk
around the main temple hall to the little forest in the back. There is
someone waiting for you worth meeting. I will not spoil your fun by telling!
On the 28th there are also great fire rituals (goma kuyoo 護摩供養) at
different hours during the day, where you can get your talismans and other
belongings consecrated by Holy Fire. I once bought one talisman with the
number of our car for Traffic Safety and the priest would not hand it
over until it had passed the Holy Smoke. Since that day, we never had
an accident with that car.
The temple compounds are quite big, with a lot of other buildings and
statues to look at. One of my favorite is a stone grotto with En-no-Gyooja,
the Founder of the Mountain Priests (yamabushi). I strongly recommend
you visit Meguro Fudoo on any 28th day of a month, it brings back memories
of OLD EDO which you have never known. Have a look at Meguro temple.
There are also some scenic areas in Japan called GOSHIKI. Usually they
have very colorful natural sourroundings to justify this name.
The Five-colored Beach Goshiki Hama in Awaji Island 淡路島の五色浜。
http://www.jnto.go.jp/english/pg/pg-606.pdf
Goshikihama Shrine in Iyo 伊予の五色浜神社
http://isweb32.infoseek.co.jp/area/itos/goshiki03.htm
The Five-colored Swamps in Aizu, Urabandai 裏磐梯の五色沼
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/gallery/sakuda/j01tohok/fukushim/goshikin/goshikin.htm
http://www3.ic-net.or.jp/~ma34mon2/diary/goshikinuma.html
Sanuki no Goshikidai 讃岐の五色台
（See TAKAMATSU 2001
for the two temples up there.）
http://www.pref.kagawa.jp/suido/top/kani/
Now let us see if we can find out more about Daruma and color symbols.
There is a shrine at Gasshooyama 尾鑿山 in Tochigi, where the stump of an old cedar tree of more than 1800 years is venerated as the deity BLACK DARUMA Kurodaruma (黒だるま).
御神威「黒だるま」発祥の社
境内には樹齢1800年余の杉の切株が在り国内でも比類なき巨木の跡に驚く。 現在は、尾鑿山山頂の奥宮の位
置する峻厳な雄姿を象った御神威「黒だるま」。
You can read all about different colors for different needs of a papermachee
Daruma on this HP of Imai Shop in Japanese and order the one you need
online. They all come as papermachee with no eyes, so you can make your
wish and hope for the best.
I give you an overview:
Purple is for a long life and preventing disasters.
Green to remind you of your beginners mind all the time.
Pink for safe delivery and good relations (see story about ANZAN).
Yellow brings good luck.
Black wards off evil and brings black colors to your bank account.
White is for purity of mind and a wedding present.
Gold will bring you riches. (The chinese characters for Gold 金and Money
金 are the same.)
だるま（カラフルだるま）はここで買えます。
日本語はこちら：
http://www.page.sannet.ne.jp/forest/imai/karafuru.htm
The Imai store also offers an opportunity to make a papermachee Daruma
yourself. Or you can order a white one with your special wish or name
written on the belly.
The Takasaki Daruma Shop also offers Daruma in five colors.
カラー（ピンク・イエロー・グリーン）。赤・白はミニだるまにて販売しています。
http://www.wind.co.jp/sanrin/colordaruma.html
Arai store offers Daruma in gold, silver and other colors. Have a look.
金と銀のだるまはこちら。
 |
 |
A blue and red couple for the Dolls Festival (だるま雛) is also available.
http://www.darumayahonpo.com/sakuhin/index.html
Kimura store has a set of colorfull Daruma. The black one is especially
conspicious as a New Years Present for a company, since it contains a
wish for Black Numbers on your balance sheet.
開運色だるま
White for Good Luck and Long Life, Yellow for Safety, Blue for peace,
Black for Good Business, Purple for Long Life, Pink for Love.
白は福寿、黄は安全、緑は健康、青は和、黒は隆盛、金は金運、紫は長寿、ピンクは愛を願っただるまです。
http://www8.gunmanet.ne.jp/g-ippin/06/03.htm
I am sure there are a lot of other stores on the WWW, which I did not
mention. Please let me know your HP, I am sure there will be a Part 2
to this one.
まだまだ色だるまを販売するお店がたくさんあるにちがいない。ぜひＨＰを教えてください。次回のパート２に入れます。
Here are the Darumas in five colors from my collection. They are really
quite small, only 3,5 cm large. I got them in a store in Kurashiki. For
some reason, the blue one is striking purple.
私の小さい五色だるまたちです。倉敷市で2001年に購入しました。
And the last one shows four of a group of five tiny Daruma in a little
basket. They are only about 1 cm each.
これはミニだるまで, 高さは1cmです。五色ではなく四色しか保存されていませんでした。小さい籠に寝ています。
This concludes our journey in the world of Asian color symbols.
これで今回の色彩の散歩を終わります。
gokuraku@po.harenet.ne.jp
