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A Japanese miscellany - University of Oregon

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292 <strong>Japanese</strong> Miscellany<br />

shelf occupied by a red image <strong>of</strong> Daruma. Evi-<br />

dently the image was not a toy: there were<br />

<strong>of</strong>ferings in front <strong>of</strong> it. I was not surprised<br />

to find Daruma accepted as a household divinity,<br />

— because I knew that in many parts <strong>of</strong> Japan<br />

prayers were addressed to him on behalf <strong>of</strong> chil-<br />

dren attacked by smallpox. But I was rather<br />

startled by the peculiar aspect <strong>of</strong> Otokichi's<br />

Daruma, which had only one eye, — a large and<br />

formidable eye that seemed to glare through the<br />

dusk <strong>of</strong> the shop like the eye <strong>of</strong> a great owl.<br />

It was the right eye, and was made <strong>of</strong> glazed paper.<br />

The socket <strong>of</strong> the left eye was a white void.

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