A Desire Perhaps Shared by Many

THE FOLLOWING NOTE WAS PRESENTED TO ANN EBERHARD, ALONG WITH A DARUMA DOLL, TO RECOGNIZE HER DESIRE TO COME TO JAPAN WITH THE FRIENDS OF LEE TOUR; THE CLEVELAND SCHOOL SYSTEM WOULD NOT ALLOW HER TO MISS SCHOOL, HOWEVER, SO SHE ULTIMATELY HAD TO DROP OUT.

Daruma (more properly known as “Bodhidharma”) was a Buddhist monk, the Chinese founder of Zen, whose devotion to meditation supposedly resulted in the atrophy of his arms and legs. Today in contemporary Japan he is often portrayed as a red, round, roly-poly doll.

Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about the Daruma Doll:

Daruma dolls (達磨, daruma^?), also known as dharma dolls, are hollow and round Japanese wish dolls with no arms or legs, modelled after Bodhidhrama, the founder and first patriarch of Zen. Typical colors are red (most common), yellow, green, and white. The doll has a face with a moustache and beard, but its eyes only contain the color white. Using black ink, one fills in a single circular eye while thinking of a wish. Should the wish later come true, the second eye is filled in.

Because of their low centers of gravity, some types of daruma doll return to the upright position after being tilted to one side. As such, the daruma has become symbolic for optimism, persistence, and strong determination.

The Lee and Friends Go to Japan group thought you might like to have one of these dolls as a concrete expression of your wish to “someday” go to Japan yourself, to remind you to keep on hoping and planning for that opportunity.