Japanese Snowmen
By thomas on Dec 5, 2008 in Japanese
Do you know the difference between Japanese snowmen and the snowmen we are used to? Check out this picture of Japanese snowmen:
The main difference is that Japanese snowmen are made from only two snowballs instead of three. They also tend to be much smaller than our snowmen, although that’s not always the case.
The Japanese word for “snowman” is 雪だるま (yuki-daruma). 雪 (yuki) means snow. だるま (daruma) does not mean man though.
Daruma is the Japanese form of dharma, a Sanskrit word that you may have heard before. It shows up a lot in Buddhism and Hinduism. Japanese actually borrowed daruma from Bodhidharma, which is the name of the monk who brought Zen (Chan) Buddhism to China from India. Here he is:
So why are snowmen called “Snow Bodhidharmas” in Japanese? Check it out.
Japan has these things called Daruma dolls, which look like this:
People use these to make their wishes come true. You make a wish and color in one of the Daruma doll’s eyes. Then you wait and when your wish comes true, you color in the other eye. Japan is full of one-eyed daruma dolls.
Apparently yuki-darumas (snowmen) are meant to resemble these dolls (though I think they more resemble the painting above). That’s why they don’t use three big snow balls.
If it snows this year, you can bet your hat that I’m going to be making some Snow Bodhidharmas.
How do you say snowman in your language (native or study language)?? Please leave a comment and tell me!
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In German (my native language): “Schneemann”; “Schnee” = “snow”; “mann” = “man”, obviously :)
Marcel Grünauer | Dec 5, 2008 | Reply
In Swedish it is called “Snögubbe”. Snö meaning snow and gubbe meaning man/figure/old man.
Anders | Dec 6, 2008 | Reply
Xueren (雪人) in Chinese;
Xue (雪) means snow while ren (人) means man, so the literal meaning is “snowman”
Zumbo | Dec 6, 2008 | Reply
In Spanish it’s “hombre de nieve” — “hombre” = man, “nieve” = snow
hmm, this seems pretty standard so far right? haha, them japanese =P
Laura | Dec 7, 2008 | Reply
In Irish we say “Fear sneachta”
pron. far shnockta
which, without any surprises is: “Man of snow”
Declan KanaKanji.com | Dec 7, 2008 | Reply
In Russian it’s neither ‘man’ nor ‘Daruma’. I’s simply ‘снеговик’, where ‘снег’ is snow and the rest is just a couple of suffixes, so it kinda means just ’something made of, or related to, snow’.
As for Daruma, I think you forgot to mention that legend where he was sitting in 座禅 for so long that his arms and legs fell off. That is why he’s depicted without ‘em.
sergey samokhov | Dec 7, 2008 | Reply
In Polish it’s ‘bałwan’ (you’de pronounce it in English as bow-vun ).
It’s actually a very old word meaning a figure of a pagan god. Later on people started to use it for a snowman saying ‘bałwan ze śniegu’ which means literary ‘a figure made of snow’. So it’s somewhat similar to the Japanese origins of 雪だるま
In contemporary Polish the word ‘bałwan’ means also an idiot so watch out when you use it :)
Ａｇａ | Dec 11, 2008 | Reply
In Dutch it’s ’sneeuwpop’, which means snow-doll… ’sneeuwman’ (snow man) is correct, but hardly ever used.
Alex | Jan 5, 2009 | Reply
in my french (my native countrey) you say bonome de neige (dunno if i wrote the spelling good)
it mains bonome = man , de = from , neige = snow
so you are saying man from snow
i you wanna now some other words contact me or reply ^-^
chloé | Jan 7, 2009 | Reply
In Bulgarian it’s snezhen chovek or “person of snow.” (or “man of snow” if it’s man as in mankind, not man as in male human).
Notice that the Russian snegovik is just a smooshed-together version of the same phrase.
Dan | Jan 26, 2009 | Reply
Bonhomme de neige, in French
eldritch | Feb 13, 2009 | Reply
I had no idea that daruma came fro dharma, but it makes sense now that I have read it. The little tiny guy is a classic Japanese snowman.
Japanese words | Mar 1, 2009 | Reply
The Japanese tradition of Snow Bhoddhidharmas is totally fascinating.
Following a number of encounters with the monks of Tibet, The London Snowman has just embarked on a mission to The Himalayas to try and find The Abominable Snowman and it seems that He may himself be what he is looking for…….
Look here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFQsV-v040I
_/\_
celestial elf | May 15, 2009 | Reply
In Arabic it’s called “رجل ثلج” (Rajul thalj) which means snow man (or a man of snow, however you like it)
Because of the way Arabic is structured, the name is actually “man snow”
Rajul= man
thalj= snow
Cute snow people by the way x3!
Lily | Jun 5, 2009 | Reply
Sanskrit word dharma actually means duty. Like it is the dharma of a lion to kill, or a thief has the dharma to steal — clearly, it always has a positive connotation even if you are indulged in a negative act, as long as you are honest and dedicated to it. Which is why dharma has been translated into English as religion. Hence Bodhi-dharma means the “religion” of the Buddha.
I hope my Japanese friends will want to come to India and learn the Sanskrit language, after reading this explaination.
Rajesh Joshi | Aug 8, 2009 | Reply
in polish Snowman is Bałwan and no part of this word means man neither snow its simply Bałwan, the word isn’t connected with snow or man:D strange :? isn’t it?
Darek | Oct 26, 2009 | Reply
FAIL.
You do not “make wishes” on a “Daruma doll”.
Daruma does not make your wishes come true, either.
The Japanese Daruma is always depicted without arms and legs; this is because legend has it that Daruma [the father of Zen Buddhism] meditated in one position until his arms and legs atrophied down to nothing. So the doll is always an okiagari koboshi, or ‘tumbler’. You can push it over but it will always pop back up. At New Years time when people make a resolution they paint in one of the eyes. If and when they fulfill the resolution they can paint in the second eye. This is very significant. People use the sight of the one-eyed Daruma to remind themselves to work hard to fulfill their goals. Legend has it that, after losing his legs, the Daruma tried and tried to stand up. Of course, without legs he could not stand, but that didn’t stop him from trying. Even if he fell seven times he tried to stand up eight times. So the meaning of the one eye is to “keep trying no matter what” to reach the goal.
Wishing has nothing to do with it.
yobaba | Oct 28, 2009 | Reply