Teru teru bozu
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Teru teru bozu (Japanese: てるてるぼうず; "shiny-shiny Buddhist priest"[1])) is a little traditional hand-made doll made of white paper or cloth that Japanese farmers began hanging outside of their window by a string. This amulet is supposed to have magical powers to bring good weather and to stop or prevent a rainy day. "Teru" is a Japanese verb which describes sunshine, and a "bōzu" is a Buddhist monk (compare the word bonze).
Teruteru bozus became popular during the Edo period among urban dwellers[2], whose children would make them the day before the good weather was desired and chant "Fine-weather priest, please let the weather be good tomorrow."[2]
Today, children make teru-teru-bōzu out of tissue paper or cotton and string and hang them from a window to wish for sunny weather, often before a school picnic day. Hanging it upside down - with its head pointing downside - acts like a prayer for rain. They are still a very common sight in Japan.
There is a famous warabe uta, or Japanese nursery rhyme, associated with teru teru bozu:
Teru-teru-bōzu, teru bōzu Ashita tenki ni shite o-kure Itsuka no yume no sora no yo ni Haretara kin no suzu ageyo
Teru-teru-bōzu, teru bōzu Ashita tenki ni shite o-kure Watashi no negai wo kiita nara Amai o-sake wo tanto nomasho
Teru-teru-bōzu, teru bōzu Ashita tenki ni shite o-kure Sore de mo kumotte naitetara Sonata no kubi wo chon to kiru zo
Teru-teru-bozu, teru bozu Do make tomorrow a sunny day Like the sky in a dream sometime If it's sunny I'll give you a golden bell
Teru-teru-bozu, teru bozu Do make tomorrow a sunny day If you make my wish come true We'll drink lots of sweet booze
Teru-teru-bozu, teru bozu Do make tomorrow a sunny day but if it's cloudy and I find you crying Then I shall chop your head off
Like many nursery rhymes, this song is supposed to have a darker history than it first appears. It allegedly originated from a story of a monk who promised farmers to stop rain and bring clear weather during a prolonged period of rain which was ruining crops. When the monk failed to bring sunshine, he was executed.
[edit] Teru teru bozu in fiction
- In the ending theme of the anime Jungle wa Itsumo Hare Nochi Guu Final the main character sings a teru teru bozu rhyme.
- The design of the kaiju Nova from the television series Ultraman Leo (and later revived in Ultraman Mebius) is based on the teru teru bozu.
- In the manga 20th Century Boys, a couple of kids going through a "test of courage" encounter a giant teru teru bozu on a stairwell.
[edit] References
- ^ "Literally means "shiny-shiny Buddhist priest". They are paper dolls made by school children before going on school excursions as a charm for fine weather." [1]
- ^ a b "Weather Watching and Emperorship", by Noboru Miyata. In Current Anthropology, Vol. 28, No. 4, Supplement: An Anthropological Profile of Japan. (Aug. - Oct., 1987), pp. S13-S18. Provided by JSTOR.
