Takasaki Daruma Doll
At first, I wasn't interested, They are relatively unattractive looking. That is until I researched about Takasaki for a day trip from Tokyo. Takasaki has a famous temple called Syorinzan Darumaji where this doll was originated from. It is also where the most world supply of Daruma Doll comes from.
The round-shaped man-faced Daruma Doll is believed to bring good luck and prosperity
We set a goal while drawing one eye and wait until the goal is accomplished to draw the other eye on the doll.
And like the saying: “what you focus on, expands”, I kept seeing it everywhere while we were in Tokyo last month, which wasn't the case during my previous Japan trips. That, or because it was close to the new year as it's the most popular time to set resolutions or goals.
I decided to bring home a Daruma Doll from Japan
I got my Daruma Doll on the new year's day from Tokyo Solamachi. And I chose a purple Daruma which represents happiness instead of the traditional red-colored one.
There was a hole with a paper stuck inside at the bottom of my Daruma. According to the girl who sold it to me, the paper would reveal my luck in 2022. Oh well, no pressure, Daruma doll! I waited until we reached Melbourne to take out and read it. Somehow it escaped my mind that it would be written in Japanese. I should have opened it then and there and asked her to translate it for me.
Finally, I took a picture of it and sent it to a Japanese friend to be translated. His short reply came seconds later: “It's good luck“. Okay, that's good enough, I guess.
Daruma doll is about perseverance and goal-oriented
I have yet to draw on one eye and ask for the one goal I want to be granted this year. I am thinking it should be something to do with writing my book, a goal that I have been wanting to start every year, for a decade. It seems perfect as it embodies the Japanese proverb: Nanakorobi Yaoki. “Fall down seven times, stand up eight“. But on the other hand, a beautiful wedding or winning the lottery would be great too. Gah, I should have bought three Daruma Dolls!
Daruma Doll traditionally placed on a high shelf in the house
I keep mine high on my bookcase. He lives under Wakayama, the bonsai, with Hirosaki Castle in the background.
The tradition is to keep the Daruma Doll for a year and burn it afterward to give thanks for the granted wish and release the Kami or spirit that lives in it. Does this mean I am due for another trip to Japan?
At the end of this year, I will reveal what I wish for and whether it's granted. And if it's, I might really go back to Japan and visit Takasaki this time (I passed it up during my Japan trip last time), to join the ceremonial burning of this wishing doll in the first few days of the new year, called Daruma Kuyo, and get a brand new Daruma Doll.
Daruma from another Gunma
—
One of the things I love about Japanese culture is the tradition, such as making a wish with the help of Daruma Dolls. I know it can seem silly, but it helps me to have a better outlook on the future. Aside from Daruma Doll, I also brought back a charm from the Tosho-gu temple in Nikko and owl Kami from Oshiage.
Do you have a similar tradition where you grew up? What is a good luck charm or symbol in your culture?
to use Ginger
Limited mode
tradition, such
to use Ginger
Limited mode
of the Japanese many Kami
You might be interested in
• […] station, the neon sign, everything. On my Japan trip, I started collecting Japanese manhole and Daruma doll pictures. Those might be ordinary things for Japanese, but not for me. And digging through the […]
• […] / Saitama — I want to get the Daruma doll specific to this […]
• […] Daruma Doll Believed To Grant Wishes in Japanese Culture […]
• […] and at least one new obsession with their culture. In the past, there were engraved chopstick, Daruma doll, and Ekiben. This time, it was the Eki […]
• […] station, the neon sign, the everything. On my Japan trip, I started collecting Japanese manhole and Daruma doll pictures. Those might be ordinary things for Japanese, but not for me. And digging through the […]
• […] my Daruma doll in Takasaki Daruma-Ji temple after my wish is […]
• […] rode on the shinkansen to Takasaki, where I initially planned to burn my old Daruma doll. Unfortunately, since I haven't ticked off that goal yet, I couldn't. Instead, I got […]
• […] Dala horse made me wonder whether it has an equivalent in other cultures? I can only think of the Japanese Daruma, Danish Hoptimist and Russian […]
• […] Daruma Doll Believed To Grant Wishes in Japanese Culture […]
• […] Hipparidako Meshi (seafood Bento served inside ceramic pot), Kanizushi (Tottori crab meat on rice), Daruma doll Bento (just because I have been wanting to go to Takasaki forever), Pink Hello Kitty Shinkansen […]
• […] and buy Nikka whiskey and corn soup from the vending machines. I want to visit Takasaki to burn my Japanese Daruma Doll believed to grant wishes. Also, Naoshima, Shirakawago, Nagoya, Okinawa, Manabeshima, Fukuoka, and […]
• […] a fox-shaped prayer or locally known as ema board. It's pretty similar to drawing eyes on the Japanese Daruma Doll believed to grant your […]
Archived
Why do Ahamkara grant wishes after their own death?
I am not really interested in *how* they do grant wishes when their already dead but why. what is their motive in death and their motive to grant wishes in general?
here are a few thoughts: one part is certainly hunger. ahamkara, while beeing paracausal creatures, are also biological ones;they eat, they grow, the reproduce (hinted strongly with the taken eggs beeing ahamkara eggs from riven since only *Wishender* , the bow of an expert ahamkara killer , can destroy them)
also riven was fairly small when she is brought to mara and colossal when we encounter her in the raid. their shapeshifting nature complicates things a lot but i would like to think there is a good enough hint that riven grew over time and through the wishes she granted/fed on.
i would add that ahamakara, beeing dragons, are most closely comparable to predatory reptiles such as crocodiles. how is that relevant you may ask. well crocodiles for instance grow indefintely untill they run out of enough meat to hunt or contract a disease. i would assume at very least a parellel here to ahamkaras to grow and grow based on how much they feast upon, and they feast upon wishes granted.
now that explains their motive for wishgranting in life. but once they die??why bother with all the paracauslity stuff with the realm between reaility and desire when theyno longer can gain anything of it. it could be greed, yes, but even that makes little sense to me asgreed too is based upon needs and desires based upon some biological realites that all stop making sense onceyou no longer occupy an actual body.
so what do you think? why do they grant wishes upon their death?
report
93% Upvoted
This thread is archived
Sort by: best
level 1
Osiris Fanboy
I compare it to being Taken. When a being is Taken, their will is accepting to the fact that this is the only way to live. They realize they are Taken, but feel that this is the only way to exist. Also remember the hilarious encounter with Shaxx and Mara as seen in the Mark of the Great Hunt. Riven was not even near Mara, but could just sense that she was longing and had desire and her powers willed Shaxx in her proximity. Perhaps it’s a paracausal instinct beyond biological evolution. The Ahamkara, these powerful dragons, evolved to passively grant wishes as a survival tactic to avoid extinction. It’s never stated whether Riven wanted to grant Mara a wish, it is just said that she felt Mara’s desire and from it, rent reality and popped Shaxx to Mara. The other thing that Ahamkara seem to have is access to Ascendant Realms. This could imply that the Ahamkara have both a physical form and a non corporeal form, given the fact that they live on in their bones, perhaps reconstituting for hundreds or millions of years. There is still a lot about Ahamkara we do not know, in fact if it is to believe Riven was the last known Ahamkara and Bungie does not plan on having any more appear in game, then we can assume a few things:
• Riven’s true shape was what we saw in the Spire and what we defeated in the raid.
• Ahamkara have biological quirks like laying eggs and feeding
• Ahamkara bones can possibly hold the incorporeal consciousness of Ahamkara that still hold on to paracausal evolutionary traits. A la they realize they are gone from the material plane, but still have no choice but to adhere to their evolution.
ReportSave
level 2
really like this one!!
ReportSave
level 2
Isn't it stated somewhere that the "stone " Eris holds is an Ahamkara bone that she speaks to often?
ReportSave
level 1
My theory: Because they don't actually exist on this plane of reality.
The "garden" depicted in the Unveiling lore book is the source of all paracausality in the universe, and was shaped by the ontological principles of Light and Dark. Within this metaphorical garden, besides the Gardener/Winnower, there were worms (likely the Deep Worms), bugs (likely the Ahamkara), and the pattern (confirmed to be the Vex).
My theory is that this garden is a dimension "above" ours. Like the Euclidean 4th dimension. If that's true, then killing an ahamkara or worm in our dimension would be, at best, an inconvenience. You are "killing" the shadow cast by their higher-dimension counterpart.
This would explain why killing Worms and Ahamkara doesn't actually kill them. Why they can still communicate or alter reality long after their physical forms have died. It also explains why the Vex have a fundamentally different approach to timelines and reality than literally everyone else, as detailed in the Atelic entry in the Aspect lore book. They treat our reality like the way we would treat a living, breathing 2d reality: as gods who can completely circumvent the dimensional rules. "If time's a river, then we're fish and they're diving birds."
ReportSave
level 2
I fell like this is a really good answer to another question
ReportSave
level 1
As of right now, it appears the Ahamkara are just another string of the story which Bungie has left hanging. Maybe since the most recent cutscene featured Eris and her bone (lel) there might be some new information revealed.
ReportSave
level 1
Considering that Mara wished for Riven to be trapped in The Dreaming City, a wish Riven granted, I think that its just in their nature to grant and corrupt any wish that is made.
ReportSave
level 1
Pro SRL Finalist
Gotta love Paracausality.
The Ahamkara are the pinnacle of Space Magic. I think it is best to not question it and accept that they transcend death
ReportSave
level 2
Or you could think that if they are probably the same species as the worm gods of the hive, they probably use the wishes like tributes to regain their strength and come back into this level of existence
ReportSave
level 1
Because they don’t just do it for free. Every time somebody makes a wish with an ahamkara, the ahamkara is granted it’s own wish. So in other words, ahamkara only grant wishes if they see that they can gain something from the other persons wish.
ReportSave
level 1
Dredgen
It's pretty clear in the lore that they feed on desire, to the extent that they gain so much power from it. The Dreaming City curse was empowered by our wish to kill Riven. Riven fed first on Mara's wish to create the Dreaming City and Eleusinia. She terraformed a barren world (the Dreaming City is implied to be built on top of the asteroid 4-Vesta) into Space Rivendell. She carved a throne world out of the Ascendant Plane. Those two impossible wishes fed her a lot.
As to why they continue to grant wishes even after death, I can't really answer. They simply just aren't purely biological entities.
ReportSave
Genies can be trapped in a lamp for long periods of time, maybe hundreds or thousands of years. They are made of vapour so this doesn't inconvenience them much. Whilst in the lamp they don't have a human form but they can hear speech (and therefore summoning spells) and can feel someone rubbing the lamp. It is dark inside the lamp.
There is nothing else in the lamp apart from the genie's vaporous self.
Genies have great powers to grant wishes and in fact they can grant themselves three (and only three) wishes during the whole of their existence.
Notes
Genies are constrained by a Higher Power to remain genies until the Final Day. They must stay in the lamp at all times except when summoned. When summoned they must emerge and grant the summoner three wishes then return to the lamp. The summoner can require all three wishes at the same time or at different times.
Genies cannot countermand any restrictions imposed by the Higher Power.
The Genie only has three wishes for itself in total yet it may be summoned many times by different people over the centuries and millennia. Outside conditions may change drastically so they need to choose wisely.
Genies can only grant wishes including their own whilst outside the lamp.
Question
The Genie's (unavoidable) task is to grant as many wishes as possible but also to be as tricky as possible about it so that wishes are, if possible, granted in an undesirable way the summoner hasn't thought of. One of the paradoxes of this is that the genie must grant its own wishes in the least favourable way! I need to know what the wishes should be but also what unfavourable outcomes could come from these wishes and how the genie can avoid tricking itself.
What should the genie wish for?
Wish fulfillment organizations for children
Children’s Wish Foundation International grants wishes to children with advanced illness, including advanced cancer. Children under the age of three can participate in the organization's Young Minds program, which provides children younger than 4 or those with a cognitive age younger than 4, a gift from a variety of choices.
The Dream Factory grants wishes to critically and chronically ill children between 3 and 18 years old. Parents, guardians, physicians, other caregivers, and children with advanced diseases can make referrals to begin the wish-granting process.
Give Kids the World is a nonprofit resort in Central Florida that provides weeklong, cost-free vacations to children with life-threatening illnesses and their families. A child must be sponsored by one of more than 250 wish-granting organizations in the country or a children's hospital affiliated with Give Kids the World.
The Granted Wish Foundation fulfills wishes for physically challenged children and young adults between the ages of 5 and 25. Wishes are limited to one per family and for those who have not received a wish by another organization.
Hope Kids hosts regular events and activities that help restore hope for the future. Hope Kids also provides a support community for children with advanced illnesses and their families.
Jason's Dream for Kids grants wishes to children diagnosed with advanced disease living in New Jersey. The organization relies on medical professionals and parents for referrals and determines medical eligibility by speaking with the health care team.
Kids Wish Network grants wishes for children who are between the ages of 3 and 18 and have a life-threatening medical condition. Anyone can refer a child, including a family member, friend, nurse, doctor, or social worker. In addition, the organization's "Hero of the Month" program was developed to honor children also between the ages of 3 and 18 who have overcome life-altering circumstances and have stayed in or been treated at one of their Hero pediatric care facilities.
Make-a-Wish Foundation grants wishes to children between 2 ½ and 18 years old with life-threatening medical conditions. The organization accepts referrals from health care professionals and parents, and children can even nominate themselves.
The Rainbow Connection
A Special Wish Foundation grants wishes for children and young adults between the ages of 3 and 21 who have been diagnosed with an advanced illness and live near Spokane, Washington. Wishes fall into three categories, including a special gift, a visit to a special place, or the opportunity to meet a special hero.
Sunshine Foundation helps fulfill the dreams of children 3 to 18 years old who have advanced cancer, special needs, or who have faced abuse.
Wishing Star grants wishes to children with advanced illnesses who are between 3 and 21 years old and live in Eastern and Central Washington and Idaho. This organization focuses on providing positive and uplifting experiences for children with life-threatening or life-shortening illnesses.
Wish fulfillment organizations for adults and families
Deliver the Dream provides families living with an advanced illness, whether the illness involves a child or a parent, the chance to enjoy a 3-day retreat.
Reeling and Healing Midwest
Second Wind Dreams works to enhance the life of those living in elder care communities in the United States and Canada and grants wishes to those living in nursing, assisted living, and hospice facilities.
United Special Sportsman Alliance specializes in providing children with disabilities or advanced illness and disabled veterans an outdoor adventure of their dreams. Trips include hunting, fishing, water sports, and other activities.