Life and Dots of Daniel

Sarubobo from Japan

“Konnichiwa!” from my little red Sarubobo, an amulet my senior technical assistant bought me from Japan. She went to Takayama, a city located in Gifu, Japan. It certainly is very sweet of her for remembering me despite being thousand miles away. She told me that this red sarubobo is a charm for good marriage, good children and to well-rounded couple. Well, just something which I am not prepared for now.

Just like any family in Takayama, a grandmother will make sarubobos for their daughters as charms, and for their grandchildren as dolls. The sarubobo is associated with three wishes; protection from bad things, a happy home and a good match, and having an easy delivery on birth.

See this sarubobo? It doesn't have facial features. According to folks of Takayama, there was no need for sarubobos to be completely accurate as in the ancient days sarubobos were made of left over cloth and made by relatives. Another reason is that an empty face allows the owner, in this case, me to imagine it. Cool huh?

There was once, a girl gave me an amulet that smelled so nice, she bought it from Taiwan. I hung it on my pencil case, weeks after that it got dirty and the fragrance faded. It also started falling apart in less than a year. Afraid that I am going to lose this cute thing again, I won't hang it any more.

Ok. Excuse me for taking so much of your time talking about sarubobo. XD