Welcome to Web Page and A Happy New year! How is your New Year? I will tell you about Japanese New Year this time. The photo on the top of this page is of Japanese Lucky Doll(Daruma).There are two black eyes on the doll. But see the photo below. There are no black eyes on it. We Japanese write one eye on the doll at the end of a year or at the first of a year.

There is one side eye on the doll. It is the next one. We write one eye on the doll hoping A Good Year or praying that our wishing will be granted.

Then when our wish is granted, we write another one eye on the doll. It is the top photo of this page.

This doll is made heavier of it's bottom than the head, so if we hit the head of the doll, the doll falls sideways and it gets up. It means that even if we are in taking hardship we should do our best and overcome our hardship. So the doll Daruma is A Lucky Doll or A Happy Doll.

The photos of sculptures above are Lions(Shishi). One opens it's mouth and the other shuts it's mouth. They are set at the both side of the gate(Torii) of shrine. The gate is as the photo below.

Many Japanese go to shrines during New Year's Days wishing and praying to be A Good Year. There are some Japanese women dressed in Kimono(Japanese traditional weare).