Teruterubozu

I made this little teruterubozu after seeing a similar one in an issue of Cotton Time

A teruterubozou is a Japanese charm made of paper or cloth, it's hung from a window to bring sunny weather. Teru is a Japanese verb which describes sunshine, and bozu is a Buddhist monk. The charm can also be hung upside down to bring rainy weather--there is a lovely movie called Ima, ai ni yukimasu (Be With You) a little boy receives a visit from a mysterious woman he believes is his mother--despite the fact that she died a year earlier. Because of a picture book his mother left him, he realizes the woman will return to "The Archive Store" when the rainy season ends so he hangs dozens of upside-down teruterubozu around the outside of the house, in hopes of prolonging the rain.

If you watch anime or Japanese doramas, you may spot these little charms, westerners sometimes think they are meant to be ghosts.

Teru-teru-bōzu, teru bōzu
Ashita tenki ni shite o-kure
Itsuka no yume no sora no yo ni
Haretara kin no suzu ageyo

Teru-teru-bōzu, teru bōzu
Ashita tenki ni shite o-kure
Watashi no negai wo kiita nara
Amai o-sake wo tanto nomasho

Teru-teru-bōzu, teru bōzu
Ashita tenki ni shite o-kure
Sore de mo kumotte naitetara
Sonata no kubi wo chon to kiru zo

Teru-teru-bozu, teru bozu
Do make tomorrow a sunny day
Like the sky in a dream sometime
If it's sunny I'll give you a golden bell

Teru-teru-bozu, teru bozu
Do make tomorrow a sunny day
If you make my wish come true
We'll drink lots of sweet rice wine

Teru-teru-bozu, teru bozu
Do make tomorrow a sunny day
But if it's cloudy and you are crying (raining)
Then I shall snip your head off

Comments

[Laura]

Ah ha. That is what I need to do--learn to sew and make a teruterubozu for my girls. It drives me crazy, every rainy day we lose an entire box of kleenex to their enthusiasm for making those things!

Laura in Akita

[Sonia Luisa]

I had no idea...very informative.
thank you for posting this :))