Made by hand in our partner workshop in China  ·  Shipped worldwide  ·  Every symbol comes with its sources
Atlas  /  For a new job  /  DarumaNo. 05
Plate IEast Asia · JapanDaruma, drawn by Wishlore
Pl. IDaruma. A daruma with one eye filled in. Drawing: Wishlore.
No. 05  ·  For a new job  ·  East Asia

The daruma

A round red doll from Japan. People fill in one eye when they set a goal, and the other when they reach it.

Earliest record
Shorinzan Darumaji temple, 1697
Source
Visit Gunma, Shorinzan Darumaji Temple
Region
East Asia · Japan
Wish
For a new job
Layers
Record Folk Modern
Keep this symbol · from £2.99Read the sources
The story · three layers

The story, in three layers.

Record, Folk and Modern are kept apart, and each one carries its source.

I
Record
Gunma, Japan

Shorinzan Darumaji, 1697

Shorinzan Darumaji, a temple founded in 1697, is regarded as the birthplace of the Japanese daruma doll.

II
Folk
Japan

One eye, then the other

People paint in one eye when they make a wish and the other when it comes true. At the end of the year, dolls are taken back to the temple to be burned.

III
Modern
Wishlore, today

How we tell it

We describe the daruma as a way of marking a goal: one eye when you set it, one when you reach it.

Daruma
Shorinzan Darumaji temple, 1697
Story and sources on the reverse
Pl. IIThe story card. Every printed piece carries the story and a code that opens the full source list.
Keep it close

How would you like to keep it?

Add to bag · £8
  • Pendants are whole symbols, drawn from this plate. Pictures are design drawings, not photos, until the piece is made and photographed
  • Printed cards and pendants are made in our partner workshop in China and shipped worldwide
  • Delivery: [UK/EU/US days TBC]; duties shown at checkout
Watch the story

The story, in a minute.

It opens with the pencil construction, then follows the record, how people used it, and the piece we make today. Every fact in it comes from the sources on this page.

Length
0:55
Narration
English, with subtitles on screen
Images
Pencil construction and the atlas drawing on this page, animated; no AI images; jewellery shown as a line drawing
Sources
Listed at the end of the film
Story film · 0:55 · Drawn from the atlas plate · no AI images
In one breath
One eye when you set the goal; the other when you reach it. Who would you keep it for?
Also for a new job

Other symbols to keep

See all symbols for a new job

No. 32
San Cayetano
No early record
No. 91
Hiring-fair token
Hardy’s Casterbridge hiring fair, 1874
No. 92
Journeyman’s Kundschaft
Kundschaft with a view of Zeitz, about 1800
No. 93
Dock labourer’s ticket
Henry Stevens’s ticket, West India Docks, 1872
No. 94
St Joseph the Worker
Feast of St Joseph the Worker, 1 May 1955