雪だるま―冬の散歩
Wintertime -a snowman in every yard! In Japanese these kind fellows are
called "Snow Daruma"、maybe because their form resembles the tumbler doll
of Daruma san. If you know another explanation, please let me know.
雪だるま―子供の時の響きがしますね。 禅画にも雪だるまがありました。
A Zen-Picture of a Snow Daruma - Yuki Daruma
雪だるまの禅画
Art and Antiques Bachmann Eckstein, スイスの禅画ギャラリーより。
 |
|
| 1921 120 x 59 cm A Daruma made of piled-up snow. As the days pass by, Where has he gone? - No traces of him remain. |
There is a Hot Spring with the Name of YUKI DARUMA.
They also sell keyholders in the form of a Daruma Snowman.
雪だるまのキーホルダーもあります：
http://www.yukidaruma.or.jp/YASUZUKA/cv/h13w/yukinoyu/yukinoyu.html
In the season there are of course many Snow
Festivals, but only very few Snowman Festivals.
The biggest Snow Festival is in Hokkaido, check out this HP in English
for more.
雪祭りはあちこちにありますが、雪だるま祭はわずかです。まずは北海道の雪祭りをご覧ください。
http://www.snowfes.com/english/index_e.html
The Daruma Snowman Festival 雪だるま祭
There is a special festival called "Yukidaruma Matsuri" in Shiramine Village,
Ishikawa Prefecture, close to Kanazawa City. The village is about 700
Meters above sea level and has more than three meters of snow. So since
olden times the everyday life in winter is a battle with the snow masses.
10 years ago the people started to appreciate the snow as something positive
and started this festival, where about 2000 snowmen are build all over
the village for the visitors to enjyo the "Yukidaruma Week". The village
has only 1200 inhabitants, so there are more snowmen than people for a
while! Most of the snowmen have a little hole in the stomac and at night
a candle is lit there, as you can see on the picture. The candles last
about four hours, so until nine in the evening the village is beautifully
lit up by Snowman Daruma.
Look at the following HP to see more pictures of these charming lightup
Daruma.
日本語はこちら：
http://hamadayori.hoops.ne.jp/0202/yukidaruma.html
Shiramine Snowman Festival Yukidaruma Matsuri
2003, January 29 and 31.
村中を埋め尽くす大小さまざまな雪だるま。「雪だるままつり」は白峰の冬の一大イベント。夕闇が迫り、雪だるまに灯りが点されるとそれはもう幻想の世界に迷い込んだよう。
「雪だるま2003」は、2003年１月29日-桑島地区、31日-白峰地区で開催！
 |
 |
HP of Shiramine Village ：
http://www.vill.shiramine.ishikawa.jp/kankou/event.html
Nozawa Hot Spring also features a Snowman Festival, have a look at it.
野沢温泉『雪だるま祭り』
http://www.avis.ne.jp/~buncho/title79.htm
In Nozawa, there is also the tradition of Akebi folk art. Akebi is a tree
with a lot of thin gnarled branches to be woven into baskets and other
things. There even was a Snowman Daruma made of this type. The walltapestry
with the letter for DREAM 夢 looks like a little Daruma to me.
http://www.nozawa.or.jp/tokusan/
Just for the fun of it, klick here to find a nice picture of Mr. Snowman
and his Son at Night.
☆雪だるま親子☆
There is a special box for a cold lunch (ekiben 駅弁) in the form of a
little snowman filled with delicious food inside to be bought at Niigata
Station or Nitsu Station. Klick at the little Snowman to inspect the contents
of his belly, he is quite down the list of other lunch boxes.
新津駅(JR信越本線ほか)
雪だるま弁当:雪だるま型の容器の頭に鶏そぼろご飯､胴には鶏肉や山菜が｡920円。
http://ekimae1.toshiba.co.jp/biz/biztrip/ekiben/92010104.htm
We will learn more about lunchboxes and Daruma in a different story
Bentoobako-
Lunchbox with Daruma だるま 弁当箱―駅弁の散歩
On the more traditional line of Daruma Dolls, there is a little Yuki-n-Ko,
Little Daruma Child, of papermachee, made in Nagano Prefecture.
雪ん子だるま、長野。
Finally I will show you a picture of my Daruma Snowman, to be used as
a chopstick rest at the tabe. I add two other chopstick rests in the form
of Daruma san.
最後に私の雪だるま「お箸置き」を見てください。
There is a lot more about Yukidaruma on the Internet, so there may be a part two.
gokuraku@po.harenet.ne.jp
