Daruma Practising Zazen for Nine Years in Front of a Wall
(menpeki kunen 面壁九年)
There are many renderings of Daruma figures, but what they want to express on the inside is always the same. It is the spirit of Daruma Daishi (about 5th Cent.), the eighth generation Great Master after Shakyamuni Buddha, founder of the Zen sect. Legend says that Daruma was born the third prince in a South Indian kingdom. He was of a sharp mind already as a child and followed the Great Master Prajnaatara, where he studied Buddhism intensly and carried on his tradition. He then took off to China to preach Buddhism, taking the sea road to South China. He was invited by Emperor Wu and expounded his wisdom for him. But the emperor did not understand the preachings of Daruma, so Daruma took off again, crossing the Yangtse River to the east and ended up in the Shaolin Temple near Loyang. He stood on some reeds when crossing the river, which leads to the famous iconographic rendering of "Rush-leaf Daruma" (royoo Daruma 芦葉達磨).
Suusan 嵩山 was one of the five great centers of religious learning in China, so Daruma sat down in a cave at the foot of the mountain to practise Zazen Meditation for nine years. Later the folks of Edo imagined this long period of meditation, where his beard grew long, his legs withered away and his hands shriveled of no-use, rendering into the tumbler doll as we see him now.
The Zen teachings of Daruma Daishi entered Japan during the Kamakura period, where he is revered as the First Patriarch of the Zen Sect. During the middle of the Edo period the famous Zen priest and painter Hakuin (白隠禅師 1685 - 1768) painted many simple impressive pictures to teach the townspeople of Edo who could not read.

Here is a picture of my two MINI Daruma in front of the cave, enjoying the ivory waterfall. One has a little headband and the other carries a tiny flywhisk.
私のミニだるまは、ちょっと面壁を一休みして象牙の滝を楽しんでいます。

Daruma as a Drinking Companion (shukoshi 酒胡子) - Daruma as the "Old man who never falls down" (futoo-oo 不倒翁) and the self-righting Tumbler Doll
(okiagari koboshi 起き上がり小法師)
The origin of papermachee dolls (hariko 張子) comes from China. During the Tang period (616 - 906) Chinese culture reached a pinacle. During that time there was the custom of using a wooden doll with a pointed base, which was like a spinning top. When the doll fell, it pointed to a person who had then to drink the next cup of ricewine or do a short performance. (Remember, the cups were really quite tiny.) Times passed and we reach the Meiji Period of Japan (1868 - 1912). The Chinese Drinking Companion had changed to a Japanese papermachee doll and was now called "Old man who never falls down". This old man seemed to get healthier with the years and was the symbol of long life. Japanese travellers to China brought the Chinese dolls back as souvenirs, since they were light and easy to carry. Falling down and tumbling up again, this was so much fun that it soon turned into a toy for little children - the Tumbler Doll was born. It seemed to fit the parent's wish for children to grow up healthy and was a hit on the market. Going through many changes during time, the old man turned into Daruma as we know the doll today.

From the Tumbler Doll (okiagari koboshi) to the Tumbler Daruma
(okiagari Daruma 起き上がりだるま)
After the Period of the Warring States Japan reached a time of 300 years of peace under the Tokugawa regime. The Tumbler Dolls of papermachee、first made in Kyoto, soon reached the new capital of Edo. The inventive townspeople of Edo painted a big black beard on the face of the old man and a visiting priest came to say: "Well, if this is not the face of Daruma Daishi himself!"
The red robe was the traditional garb of a priest. Getting up after falling down was taken as a wish getting better for an ill person. It was also said that the stark red colour would ward off smallpox, so the red tumbler doll of Daruma would be the best present for a sick child.
This one blessing was soon followed by others and developed into "Falling down seven times, getting up eight times" (nanakorobi yaoki 七転八起), turning into a blessing for many generations of the family line, good business and others. Thus Daruma got a firm place in the heart of the Japanese people and seemd to work for the good of people with six heads and six arms. The faith in him grew steadily and soon the dolls were sold at the New Years fairs at many local temples and the tradition to paint one eye for a wish started. You had to buy a new one every year, so the tradition expanded and we have to thank the founder of the Zen Sect for all of this.

Here is a MINI Box made of cardboard and cloth, maybe early Meiji period. 2 cm long.
明治時代のミニ箱です。作った人の気持ちがつたわりそうです。

Why is the Tumbler Doll Daruma always of RED color?
Red was the color of the robe of a high-ranking priest and since Daruma Daishi was the founder of the Zen Sect, he must have worn a red robe. The patterns painted in gold on the doll represent the Buddhist stole that a priest wore.
During the Edo Period, Daruma came to be seen by the townspeople as the healer of smallpox. Nowadays we have medicine to cure this illness, but in former times children suffered a lot from this and other diseases. It was believed that RED would ward off diseases, so the Red Daruma Doll with a threatening face became the preventor and healer of sickness. Modern medicine has found out that the color red really helps prevent smallpox!
But the Tumbler Doll Daruma is not always red. In Yamanashi Prefecture we have a white Daruma as a talisman for the silk industry and the healthy upbringing of children. (Please refer to the GOSHIKI story to learn more about color symbols and Daruma.)

Two MINI companions with eyes popping out. One is red indeed and the other of different mixed colors. They are only 1 cm high.
ガラス製のミニ二人です。目が出ます。

Does the Beard and the Eyebrows of Daruma have a Meaning?
The face of a Daruma for Good Luck is usually painted with bold strokes for beard and eyebrows. The most traditional of this kind, the Takasaki Daruma (we will talk about him in a separate story) has eyebrows in the form of a crane and a beard in the form of a tortoise, both symbols for long life (see story about TSURUKAME).
Another explanation says the beard is like a pine tree, around the eyes we have bamboo and the nostrils represent the plum, altogether the tree auspicious symbols for long life (shoochikubai 松竹梅). On the sides and the belly of the doll, other spells for good luck, good business and a long family line are painted, so he is the epitome of Good Luck Symbols and that is maybe why he sold so well to the Edo townspeople.
The eyebrows and the beard are painted carefully with the brush and some even used real hair to create a beautiful male face (see story about HIGE DARUMA).

These two are mounted on a board, hight about 1.5 cm. One again wears a flywhisk, the other a headband. They are a little damaged from long years of service.
この二人は一つのボードに取り付けられています。長い務めでちょっといたんでいます。

When and Why did Princess Daruma (Hime Daruma 姫だるま) come to Life?
Daruma Dolls took as model the Indian Priest Daruma Daishi, who was obviously male. But in some areas of Japan we find a sweetlooking female Daruma Doll, the Princess Daruma. The most representative of these comes from Takeda in Kumamoto Prefecture. Here is her story:
Once upon a time more than 300 years ago, there was the young girl Aya, wed into a Samurai family and thrown out of the house by her unfriendly mother in law on an icecold winter night. She had to stay in a shed braving cold and hunger for two days and was rescued by her husband just in time. The mother in law heard the story and came to see Aya, tears in her eyes and remorse for her harsh behaviour and from that day on the family lived happily together.
The diligence of Aya became the model for a tumbler doll in the fashion of Daruma, since he is the model for diligence too, meditating nine years in a cave. We also have the story of a curtesan who commented about Daruam "Well, he was sitting in quiet meditation for nine years, but we here have to sit and suffer in the Noisy Pleasure Quarters for more than ten years!" The painter Hanabusa Itchoo made a picture of the curtesan, which became the model of the Princess Daruma Dolls. (We will explore HIME DARUMA and SHUNGA DARUMA in different stories, since there are quite a lot of types.)
The Princess Daruma dolls where also bought as talismans when a baby girl was born to pray for her healthy upbringing.

Since when was Daruma used during an Election?
Before an election, you can see pictures of the cantidates with a huge Daruma, painting in one eye while wishing to win the election. On the belly of Daruma there are the characters: Certain Victory" (hisshoo 必勝). It seems the cantidates need this lucky charm to go through the election times, it gives us the feeling: Now its election time! But when was this custom started?
The earliest elections were in 1928 for the House of Representatives. A papermachee maker of Takasaki made a Daruma called the "God to Win the Election" and went around selling it. We do not know about the outcome of the election, but we know that during the election of 1930 the representative of Nagano City, Mr. Matsumoto, painted an eye on the face of a big Daruma with the characters "God of Good Luck" and put it up in his campain center, as was shown in a newspaper article of February 6th in Asahi Shinbun. And of course, he won the election! This success story made its way around Japan in no time and the custom was born.
We can only bow to the wonderous power of Daruma to bring good luck to people.