Takasaki Daruma Dolls Made of Paper; Gunma City Has Long History Making Daruma

By Shigeo Kida / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

15:30 JST, March 2, 2025

TAKASAKI, Gunma — “It’s made of paper?”

That was my surprised reaction to learning what daruma dolls are made from.

In Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture, production of daruma, a traditional Japanese craft known as a good luck charm, began in the late Edo period (1603-1867). It is said that most domestically produced daruma are made in the city. There are convincing reasons why the city became the largest production area for daruma.

Having a great view of Mt. Haruna, the Shimotoyooka-machi district of Takasaki is located on the Karasu River, which runs through downtown. I visited Gunma Daruma Seizo Oroshi Hanbai, a company that has been in business for over 150 years.

“I am the fifth-generation owner of this business,” said Norikazu Shimizu, 47. “I form the shape of the daruma dolls and ship them to producers specializing in painting, while also painting the dolls myself.”

The Gunma Daruma Doll Manufacturers’ Cooperative Union has 46 members, and four of them focus on forming the shape of the daruma dolls, like Shimizu.

Shimizu showed me the production process. Included in the materials for the daruma are egg transportation trays, which come from factories. These materials are dissolved in water and then poured into a mold. A fine wire mesh is attached to the inner side of the mold. After the mold is filled with the dissolved materials, the liquid is instantly drawn out of the mold with a pump. As a result, fibers stick to the wire net and are formed into the shape of a daruma.

“The production method is called vacuum forming, which was introduced by the third owner of the business about 50 years ago,” Shimizu said. “Until then, daruma had been made by sticking layers of washi paper onto a wooden mold and cutting the paper open to remove the mold after the paper dried out.”

About 10 years ago, Shimizu tried the old production method with a person of the same profession. “It was hard to stick the paper onto the wooden mold and remove the mold,” he said. “We were saying, ‘We wouldn’t have taken over the business if the daruma had been made with this production method.’”

A daruma doll taken out of the mold is dried outdoors for about five days. Clay is then attached to the bottom of it as a weight, and a base material is applied to the entire body. Next, the doll is dried for half a day. Finally, the face and other patterns are painted on it. The daruma is completed after being dried well.

Dry winds, smart business plans

A large part of the process involves drying, which is why Takasaki is suitable for producing daruma dolls.

“When daruma dolls were produced on the sidelines of agriculture, they were produced in the agricultural offseason during winter, when winds are dry,” Shimizu said. “It is so dry that I always need to keep hand cream on me, but the weather is perfect for making daruma.”

According to the history of Takasaki compiled in 2004 by an editing committee of the Takasaki municipal government, Takasaki daruma began to be made by farmers around the Shorinzan Darumaji temple in the then village of Hanadaka more than 200 years ago. They got the idea from amulets with a drawing of daruma on them, which were distributed by the temple. The temple is very old and still exists in the city.

The industry has developed in the city, and now about 900,000 daruma are produced annually. Behind this development are clever business plans, according to Hiroyasu Kumakura, 71, project professor at the Takasaki University of Commerce.

First, there is a system to sell daruma every year. “Old daruma are ritually burned during the New Year period, and people buy new and bigger daruma after their wishes are granted,” Kumakura said. “These customs are now well-established.”

The second reason is the excellent design of the dolls. “Their faces have a crane representing the eyebrow and a turtle representing the beard,” Kumakura explained. “The design helped enhance their value as a good luck charm.”

Third, daruma successfully adapt to the times. “Following the postwar democratization, there was more enthusiasm for elections in Japan, so ‘victory daruma’ have become popular,” the professor said. “Lately, they’ve been appearing at sporting events.”

Daruma are reportedly popular among foreign tourists. If people around the world understand the festive atmosphere of daruma, they might appear in elections and festivals in foreign countries someday in the future.