Japanese "Daruma" Dolls

Round Grumpy Dolls 

Where to Place Your Daruma Dolls

This is a doll which brings good luck and happiness. For businesses, storefronts, and cafes, Daruma dolls can be placed somewhere visible near the entrance.

Or they can be placed in the living room to entertain your guests with this humorous round doll.

Making a Wish

Daruma dolls are often given without eyes. While there are various theories about its origins, there remains a story that parents bought them for their children to avoid losing their eyesight due to fever and smallpox. When the child recovered, people painted the eyes.

In the present day, it has become a general custom to make a wish when you get the doll, and when the wish is fulfilled, you would place both eyes. The vivid red color of traditional Daruma dolls comes from the belief of red as a powerful and energetic color which wards of evil spirits and diseases. Many children's toys in the past were colored in red in hopes for children to stay healthy.