A Japanese miscellany - University of Oregon

288 Japanese Miscellany
the indulgence of their sense of humor,—origi-
nally bestirred, no doubt, by the story of the loss
of his legs. For centuries this legendary mishap
has been made the subject of comical drawings
and comical carvings ;
and generations of Japan-
ese children have amused themselves with a cer-
tain toy-image of Daruma so contrived that,
however the little figure be thrown down, it will
always bob up again into a squatting posture.
This still popular toy, called Ohiagari-kobosU
(" The Getting-up Little Priest ") may have been
originally modelled, or remodelled, after a Chinese
toy made upon the same principle, and called Puh-
Tau-Ung (" The Not-falling-down Old Man").
Mention is made of the Ohiagari-KobosU in a
Japanese play called Manju-Kui, known to have
been composed in the fourteenth century. But the
earlier forms of the toy do not seem to have been
representations of Daruma. There is, however,
a children's-song, dating from the seventeenth
century, which proves that the Daruma-toy was
popular more than two hundred years ago —
:
Hi ni ! fu ni !
Fundan Daruma ga
Ahai lukin kaburi sunmaita
!