Traditional Good-Luck Item, Daruma Dolls Market in West Tokyo

Today, on January 28th, annual "Daruma Dolls Market (Daruma Ichi)" is held at Takahata-Fudo Temple in Hino City. "Daruma" is one of the traditional Japanese good-luck doll modeling a legendary Indian monk in 6th century.  Since January 28th is the first fete-day of a year for Fudo-Myouou which is a guardian god of Buddhism and the temple worships the Fudo-Myouou as the name "Takahata-Fudo" tells, the temple holds this traditional market every year.

As you can see the photos, Daruma dolls are painted round dolls, which can right itself when knocked over, and there is a traditional custom with this doll. The dolls' eyes are both painted white and don't have pupils at shops. When people buy a doll they draw a pupil in one of the white eyes, and make a wish. When the wish come true, people draw the other pupil and complete the doll's eyes. therefore this dolls are often practiced for some short-term wishes such as entering schools or wining a election. 

Traditional color of Daruma dolls are red. However recently they have more color variety as in the lower right hand side photo. It is said that different colors are for different kind of wishes, like blue Darumas are for business wishes, green Darumas are for good health, and pink Darumas are for good romance.

When people buy it, some of the Daruma shops people would return 5 Yen as an additional discount. Please don't feel disappointed though it is just 5 Yen (5 cents) discount! Actually it is also a traditional custom. Since they are selling good-luck items and 5 yen is a homonym for "Good Fate" in Japanese, it's a wish for customers. 

As you can see in the lower left hand side photo, it looks like a kind of lucky charm. Perhaps the 5 Yen coin will help you to make your dream come true!