Comments on: Japanese Snowmen

By: yobaba

yobaba — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:51:23 +0000

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.

By: Darek

Darek — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:13:25 +0000

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?

By: Rajesh Joshi

Rajesh Joshi — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 17:42:36 +0000

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.

By: Lily

Lily — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 18:48:59 +0000

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!

By: celestial elf

celestial elf — Fri, 15 May 2009 15:16:16 +0000

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
_/\_

By: Japanese words

Japanese words — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 03:44:25 +0000

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.

By: eldritch

eldritch — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 22:33:33 +0000

Bonhomme de neige, in French

By: Dan

Dan — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 19:55:24 +0000

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.

By: chloé

chloé — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 19:49:14 +0000

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 ^-^

By: Alex

Alex — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 19:35:29 +0000

In Dutch it’s ’sneeuwpop’, which means snow-doll… ’sneeuwman’ (snow man) is correct, but hardly ever used.