As I write this post, Japan is far behind me. But I cannot ignore the wonderful last 2 weeks I spent there last April. Here is an account of how I spent two amazing weeks in the care of my Japanese friend Ayumi and her family.
First off, we met in Tokyo and took off, early morning for Takasaki. My Japanese friend had never been there but she had heard all about our previous adventure in the town of Daruma!
We easily reached the town, and grabbed some Daruma bentos at the train station. We had planned on having an outdoor lunch at the Daruma temple. We were a little bit behind schedule and miss the before noon bus. We ended up having to wait a good hour before the next mean of transportation to the temple, which was on a local train. By the time we reached the temple, we had very little time left so we zoomed up the hundreds of stairs and made our way to the main building. We snapped tons of pictures and bought Daruma-shape omikuji (300yen). My fortune was not exactly stellar so I decided to fold it up and tie it at the temple.
We then walked across the bridge to the Daruma factory. I was glad for once to have a Japanese translator to talk to the old man who had been so nice for us!! In fact he was so happy to see that we had brought our Japanese friend! As always Ayuchan did an amazing job at translating everything I wanted to say!!!
The old man invited us to the second floor of the workshop and served us lunch! We had delicious Soba and tempura. We were not expecting such generosity. But we were really happy, since it hadn't had lunch yet! We still had our bentos with us but decided to keep them for dinner.
After the lunch, we headed back to the station and started the long journey back to Tokyo, then Narita then Sosa. I was finally going to meet her family!
Since today is the Sixth of January, I decided to post about one of my favorite Japanese talisman of good luck : Daruma Dolls.
Why today, you might ask? Well today marks the beginning of the 2 days fair in Takasaki where people go to buy their Daruma Doll.
But what is a Daruma doll?
Essentially, Daruma dolls are paper maché dolls. A big round head that represent Dharma (Bodhidharma). It is usually painted in red with a white face where you can find the design of a crane (the eyebrow like feature) and a turtle (the moustache like feature) two animal considered as being lucky for Japanese people.
The best-known legends say he attained enlightenment after meditating in a cave for seven years (some say nine years) without blinking or moving his eyes. In most legends, this occurred while Bodhidharma was facing a cave wall at the Shorinji Temple on Mt Song in China. During those years of meditation, his arms and legs atrophied, shriveled up, and fell off. Legend also credits Bodhidharma with cutting off his eyelids. Apparently he dozed off during meditation, and in anger, he cut off his eyelids, which fell to the ground and sprouted into China's first green tea plants.
To know more about Daruma dolls I strongly suggest you visit Wikipedia and this web site.
But Where can I find a Daruma doll?
Although Takasaki produces 80% of the dolls, you can find them for sell all over Japan. The price varies greatly and so does the size. You can buy small ones the size of a golf ball or as big as a Child. There is a Daruma-ji temple at the Mt.Shorinzan in Takasaki City. At that temple, you can buy the talisman as a doll or as an omikuji.
The Takasaki JR station also carries Darumas in every shape and form.... You can even buy an Hello Kitty daruma bento box!
But what do I do with a Daruma doll?
Here comes the fun part! Once you buy your Daruma, you should make a wish and paint the right eye in black (from the painter's perspective). When the wish comes true, paint the other eye. You can display the doll at home, at work or in your business.
But how is a Daruma doll made?
Years ago, I was watching the japanese variety program Muchaburi. On that program, they traveled to Takasaki to visit a Daruma manufacture. That is when I first learn about the doll. I was really impress and wanted to see it for myself. A few months later, I was on my way to Japan and made sure to stop by Takasaki. There I had the chance to have a local artist teach me the painting process. I gave it a try and had horrible results!!!
Here is a little video that shows the fabrication process:
The Daruma Project 2009
In 2009, I decided with my grade 7-8 class to Make Darumas as a year end project. The idea behind it was that my class did not want to participate in the year end concert (which they found to kiddish). Since the following year, the grade 7 and 8 were moving to a new school, they had decided to make a gift they would leave behind and one they would offer to the principal of the new school.
The gift had to be meaningful, and bring luck to the new establsihement. The end of year concert (which was to take place in the new school) would be the occasion to offer both gift to the 2 principals. The kids had all heard about my trips to Japan and showed a lot of curiosity towards Darumas! We quickly agreed as a class : Daruma would be the special gift!
So 2 months before the end of the school year we started. We could not follow the traditional way of making them (lack of equipment and material) so we decided on using a balloon that we would cover with papier maché. After many layers to give it the proper shape and feature (nose, flat face, heavier base) we coated it with primer. Then we painted the doll with a red paint mix with gloss.
For the face, I told my student they could follow the traditional pattern or they could be creative. Most of them decided to use their creativity. Some kids decided to try the traditional way.
In the end, we were really please with the results! The student decided on 2 dolls and offered them on stage to the principals. The principals were really surprise by this. The students had prepare a powerpoint explaining the concept and asked the principals to make a wish for their respective school. 2 years later, those dolls are still being displayed in the entrance hall of both schools!
The following summer, as I traveled back to Takasaki, I met with the local artist and showed him the picture of my students, hard at work! He was clearly surprise and couldn't stop laughing. He said, we definitively has no skills in Daruma making, but we had motivation and talents!
Takasaki is on the Nagano Shinkansen train line. When you get to the JR station you can either transfer on a local train line to Gunmayawata station or you can take the bus. Your best bet is to ask when you get to the station since both the bus and the train run on very different schedule and at any given time, you must take one or the other.
From the temple, you can easily walk to the Daruma factory. If you want more detailed information, feel free to contact me!
Before leaving for my trip, I was a little bit worried that I might be disappointed. Last year’s trip was simply unbeleivable and would be hard to surpass. After yesterday’s amazing day, I have no more doubts. This year’s trip is already as (if not more) amazing then last year’s.
Today was our first official TOURIST day. Marie does not work on the weekend so we planned do as much sightseeing as possible together. The very first place I wanted to go to was Takasaki! Most of you probably heard about out amazing encounter last year with one of the most known artist-painter of darumas. He had been so nice to us last year, this year we were going to bring him a little gift (omiage) from Canada.
Takasaki is about an hour away from where my sister lives and is known for his umeboshi (plums). It is not a city tourist go to although it has lots to offer from a culinary and cultural stand point.
Yesterday morning, I was wide awake at 5:30 am. I waited for Marie to get up at around 8 and after breakfast we left for the train station. We got to Takasaki at around 12 and we went straight to the temple. Once more there were only a few people. We took some pictures, bought some omikuji daruma (fortune teller) and started walking to the Daimonya (Factory).
For the first time since we I arrived in Japan, it was not raining!! Yeah!! The sun even peak out from behind the clouds a few time. We got to the factory and we were a little bit scared the old man wouldn’t be there. I went straight to the workshop door and took a peek. There he was working… I ask one of the girl working there if she could ask him to come out. The old man seemed really surprised. And then he recognized us. What a relief. We gave him out gift from Canada and we chatted a bit. He was so surprised. He couldn’t believe we had come all this way to thank him for last year!!! He was also happy to know that Marie was now living in Japan. He asked why Tristan wasn’t there. I explained to him he had to work ;-)
While we chatted with my broken Japanese, he had sit down and had one of the girl bring cold ice tea. I showed him the pictures of my kids making Daruma and he was really amused by it. And then the magic began… after about half an hour of chatting, we went around the store and I choose to buy a manekineko. He lowered the price and then gave me a bunch of blank Daruma to pain!!! Then we walked us to a garden outside to show us giant lotus flowers!! It was my first time seeing them. I can’t believe how big it is. He then offered to drive us back to the train station, but I explained to him that this time we had plan to visit the rest of the city so he didn’t need to do that for us…
Well…. He took us on a grand tour of the city!!! From the mountain top garden to the Byakui Kannon and then (as if it wasn’t enough) he brought us to his daughter’s store ( a very fined Kimono making store) so we could have traditional Japanese green tea and mochi! It truly was delicious. His daughter was so pretty all dressed up in her kimono and spoke french!! A few years back she had studied in Paris. She was really happy to practice.
Once more our trip to Takasaki this year was unbelievable. I didn’t go in all the details but I feel truly fortunate to have had such an amazing experience to year in a row!!
We easily reached the town, and grabbed some Daruma bentos at the train station. We had planned on having an outdoor lunch at the Daruma temple. We were a little bit behind schedule and miss the before noon bus. We ended up having to wait a good hour before the next mean of transportation to the temple, which was on a local train. By the time we reached the temple, we had very little time left so we zoomed up the hundreds of stairs and made our way to the main building. We snapped tons of pictures and bought Daruma-shape omikuji (300yen). My fortune was not exactly stellar so I decided to fold it up and tie it at the temple. 
