Teru teru bōzu - てるてる坊主 - shine-shine monks
Teru teru bozu were Traditionally made by farmers who were praying for good weather for their crops, Today These fair weather charms are most often made by grade-schoolers who want a break from the rain.
Crafted the same way one would put together a paper ghost:
- take a cotton cloth or a tissue paper. wrap it around a sock (or more tissue) to make a soft head.
- draw on a face (any face will do)!
- tie its neck tight.
- Hang it up with a string by the window!
- wait til the next day:
• If its sunny: hooray it worked! - you can reward your bozu with a golden bell, & keep it hung up for luck!
• if its rainy: SNIP OFF ITS HEAD!! (or douse him in sake and send him down the river if you want to be traditional about it.)
[The last couple instructions are from a popular folksong which dates back to 1921.]
You can also hang it upsidown to pray for rain instead, in which case its called "ruterute bozu" or "ame ame bozu" (rain monk) instead.
In western japan, Ibaraki prefecture instead they're often called "Hiyoribozu" after a yokai called "hiyoribo" who would only appear during sunny weather. - Toriyama Sekien included it in his hyakki yagyo along with the explaination that when children pray to teru bozu that they're actually praying to this yokai.
Sticker Art by @Samkalensky (yo, thats me!) - Part of my Japanese folklore & artifacts sticker collection, weather-resistant 4" Glossy sticker. Check my shop & follow @samkalensky for many more!
four colors are available, you can order them with or without a face (either randomly drawn on by sam, or you can draw one it on yourself!)