Tuesday's Teru Teru Bozu

Today marks the seventh Tuesday since I started regularly visiting a special place in Kyoto. And in each and any one of them, raining has been patiently come along. Drop after drop.. tears after tears..

I thought, the rain will kindly pour on another day than Tuesday. Especially after I have my Teru Teru Bozu, a cute doll little Kanako made for me last Saturday.

"Sensei, ageru..", pipped Kanako - chan at the end of my English lesson last saturday. My beautiful little student was smiling when she gave me a little doll called Teru Teru Bozu that we made together that day. Her mother then said, in the rainy season like this month, kids will make a lot Teru2 Bozu and hang it in their room. She then explained the meaning behind it.

Teru Teru Bozu is a kind of little doll, in a shape of little Buddist monk. "Teru" means sunshine in Japanese, while Bozu describes "a Buddist monk". Dated hundred years ago, children usually make teru teru bozu out of paper cloth and hang it on a string before the good day. Making and hanging teru teru bozu means asking for a good weather tomorrow. Time passes, and the hanging of teru teru bozu has its own meaning.

Hanging with the head on the top means "asking for a good sunny sunshine" tomorrow. Like this

While if you hang the heads on point to earth, it means you are asking for rain.

How will you hang your teru2 bozy today? ^^

p.s. if you ever ask why the string color seems like Indonesian flag color, i can say that my Teru teru Bozu just changed its nationality to Indonesia ;p