Posted by Jonas

Teru Teru Bozu

Published on November 18th, 2010.

A Teru Teru Bōzu (てるてる坊主) is a traditional hand-made doll made out of white paper or cloth that supposedly has magical powers to bring good weather. In Japanese, teru means to shine and bōzu means Buddhist priest, monk or boy and it was a mascot, so to speak, used by Japanese farmers as a sort of prayer for preventing rainy days.

The Teru Teru Bōzu became popular in the Edo-period (1603-1868) and it was common for kids to make them the day before good weather was desired while singing “Teru-teru-bōzu, teru bōzu. Ashita tenki ni shite o-kure” (“Teru-teru-bozu, teru bozu. Do make tomorrow a sunny day”).

The Teru Teru Bōzu is still very popular today and it’s common for children to make them before field trips and other outdoor activities. If you’re lucky enough to see one, they usually hang on a string outside of windows. And if you see a Teru Teru Bōzu hanging upside down, that means someone is actually praying for rain.

Have you ever made a Teru Teru Bōzu?

  • http://autaku.com/ Steve

    I made a teru teru bōzu in high school Japanese class. I love the face on that last pic, haha.

    • http://www.yonasu.com yonasu

      Cool^^ I’ve never made one actually, but I’m sure I will some day^^ And yeah, that last one is funny! I’m not sure if it’ll work with such a face…

  • http://twitter.com/humantrick Matus Straznicky

    Great article. I always wondered what these “puppets” are. Will make one for myself :-)

    • http://www.yonasu.com yonasu

      Thanks^^ They look like little ghosts! And with the faces people draw on them, they’re a little creepy sometimes… :P

  • http://twitter.com/yaadayaada Loc Lam | ロックラム

    This is awesome! I wanna make one, it’s been raining way too much around here.

  • http://musicjap.wordpress.com/ keyinjpop

    I actually found out about these from a manga. Sounds cute and would like to make one one day for fun’s sake.

  • Mizuu

    One day my little niece visited me and she wanted to go to the zoo the other day, but the forecast was it would be raining, we made a Teru-teru bouzu. I actually sang the lil’charm in Japanese while she sang in Polish. Good thing it worked, and she believed a bit in magic. That’s important in any childhood.

    • http://www.yonasu.com yonasu

      Awh that’s nice :) When I was a kid I just made sure not to kill a spider, because in Sweden that means it’ll rain the next day^^

  • ai_jp0p25

    _i really wanna make a teru teru b0zu d0ll :D_
    _its g0od that i saw this!!!..arigat0u :P

  • Kati

    that’s so cute! i think i’m going to make one of these whether its rainy or not :)