Teru Teru Bōzu 照る照る坊主
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It Looks Like A Ghost
But It’s Really A Bald Monk!
Made By Children To Pray Away The Rain For Them
Teru Teru Bōzu is so cute. At first site it looks like a little Halloween ghost most kindergarteners learn to make in America. But this isn’t America and these little guys start showing up at the beginning of tsuyu, the Japanese Rainy Season, around the beginning of June. So what is going on?
As you can guess a month and a half of cloudy, hot, and rainy weather, makes people want to pray for the sun to come out again. This is especially true for little children. They put out these little bald monk characters to pray for the rain to go away and the sun to come back out. Children across Japan learn to make these simple dolls in kindergarten. The rule is if you put it out and the sun comes out the next day you complete the doll by drawing in a happy face. But if it keeps on raining…
A Doll With Two Origin Stories
Both Of Which Are Quite Gruemsome And Tragic
The Japanese Version of the Ancient Chinese Story
In the Japanese Japanese (You got that right. I wrote Japanese twice on purpose.) there was a town somewhere in Japan that had too much rain. It rained day after day and all the crops were dying. The townspeople didn’t know what to do. They made an offer that any monk who could pray and make the rain stop would get their most delicious sake. Well, along came a monk who took them up on the offer. He claimed that his prayers never failed and prayed through the night. When the townspeople woke up the next morning it was still raining! The local lord was so annoyed by this that he had the monk’s head cut off, put in a cloth bag, and hung up. It looked very much like the little ghosty guy you see children making today.
In the past if it continued to rain, the child would take their Teru Teru Bōzu and cut it’s head off. Then make a new one to pray the next night. On and on it would go until the sun finally came out and a happy face could be drawn on their lucky Teru Teru Bōzu. There was a very popular nursery rhyme that sung about this, but today the verse with cuttig off the doll’s head has been removed. Also, today if it doesn’t stop raining the unlucky Teru Teru Bōzu is given another chance until the sun comes out. You can listen to the song in the video below.
The Ancient Chinese Version
A long, long time ago in China there was a village where it rained and rained every day. It rained so much that the crops were failing and the people were beginning to starve. To appease whatever divine being was punishing them for whatever reason, they decided to sacrifice a young girl. In the story she rose up to the sky with her broom (it is not clear that she had been sacrificed yet) and swept away the clouds. Up in the heavens she remains to this day, sweeping away the clouds. In China the tradition is to cut out the shape of a girl with a broom from red paper and hang that up.
Different places in China tell the same legend in a different ways. One of these from the region around Beijing tells about a girl named SaoChin Nyan (掃晴娘（サオチンニャン）or Sǎo qíng niáng in Chinese pinyin). It rained and rained and the city was in peril of starvation. SaoChin Nyan prayed for the rain to stop and a voice from heaven told her that if she became a princess to the Dragon King of the East Sea(Tokai Ryuo in Japanese aka 東海龍王 or Ao Guang aka 东海龙王 in Chinese) the rain would stop. She consented and was transported to heaven and was never seen again. However, the rains did stop… or at least became more regular.
How To Make Your Own Teru Teru Bōzu
- 2 Tissues
- Rubber Band
How to Make a TeruTeru Bōzu
1st Step: Crumple one of the tissues into a loose ball shape.
2nd Step: Put the ball into the center of the other tissue.
3rd Step: Pull the loose tissue around the ball.
4th Step: Use the rubber band to fastern the tissue at the ball making a little head.
5th Step: Tie a little string around the neck of the Step 1 of Making a Teru Teru Bōzu and hang it up next to a window, or really any where you like.
6th Step: When the sun finally does come out draw a happy face on your Teru Teru Bōzu.
References
In English
Tracking down the origins of the teru teru bozu (てるてる坊主) sunshine doll tradition
Understanding ‘teru teru bōzu,’ the ghost-like charms in ‘Weathering With You’ @ The Japan Times
In Japanese
照る照る坊主＠Wikipedia.org
Scary TeruTeru Bōzu
Did “TeruTeru Bōzu” really exist? Its origin was too cruel!
What do you do after that when it’s sunny? Magical and mysterious “Teru Teru Bozu”
The Teru Teru Bozu was a woman!? A story about Teru Teru Bozu @ Tenki.jp
Sweeping daughter @ Japanese Wikipedia.org
Thanks!
Video Thanks To Himawari at YouTube.com. They have a ton of great Japanese nursery rhymes on their YouTube channel. Please check them out ;-D.
Image thanks to Keng Susumpow @ Wikimedia Commons
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