10 Japanese Lucky Charms: Daruma, Maneki-neko & More

A daruma, the round red wishing doll, waits with one eye blank and stares at you until you finish what you set out to do. In Japan, a wish is rarely left floating in the air. It gets a shape: a doll on the shelf, a small brocade pouch in a wallet, an arrow above the door.

Most people who keep these objects will tell you they are less about magic than about reminders, a way of putting an intention where you will see it every day. Below are ten of the best-loved charms: where each comes from, what it means, and how people use it today. We are Shirakawa Daruma Sohonpo, a 14th-generation daruma workshop in Shirakawa, Fukushima, so we begin with the doll we know best.

1. What Is a Daruma Doll, and What Does It Mean?

The daruma is a round, red, hand-painted wishing doll, and probably the most recognizable Japanese lucky charm. It is weighted at the base so it always rights itself when knocked over. That is why it stands for the proverb nanakorobi yaoki: fall down seven times, get up eight.

Its form comes from Bodhidharma, the Buddhist monk, usually described as coming from India, who is credited with bringing Chan (Zen) to China. In the legend he sat facing a wall for nine years, and in some tellings his arms and legs withered away. That is why the doll has no limbs.

The ritual is simple. You paint in one eye when you set a goal and the second when you reach it. Which eye comes first differs by region and by teacher, so there is no single correct side. While the goal is unfinished, the blank eye keeps looking at you, and that is the point. When the year is over, whether the wish came true or not, the doll is traditionally returned to a temple and ceremonially burned. Then you begin again with a new one.

What Makes a Shirakawa Daruma Different?

Daruma are made in many parts of Japan. Takasaki in Gunma is the best-known production area, and Shirakawa in Fukushima Prefecture has a style of its own. A Shirakawa daruma carries good-luck symbols in its face: eyebrows drawn as cranes, a mustache shaped like a turtle, and a beard marked with pine, bamboo and plum. Cranes and turtles are both long-lived animals, associated in Japanese culture with long life and good fortune.

Our family has been hand-painting daruma in Shirakawa for fourteen generations, a lineage stretching back roughly 300 years, and every doll we make is painted by hand. If the crane-and-turtle idea appeals to you, our longevity daruma is a good place to start. You can also see the whole range of handcrafted Shirakawa daruma dolls to find the size and color that suit your goal.

Next comes a charm that does its work with a raised paw.

2. What Is a Maneki-neko, and What Do Its Paws Mean?

The maneki-neko, or "beckoning cat," sits near the entrance of restaurants, shops and homes across Japan and much of East Asia, one paw raised in a slow, beckoning gesture. A raised left paw is commonly said to invite customers and visitors, and a raised right paw to bring in money, though some sources reverse the two. Some figurines raise both paws, presumably for the especially ambitious.

Color adds meaning. White stands for general good luck and purity, gold for wealth, and black for warding off evil. Red, perhaps no surprise given our specialty, is linked with health and protection from illness. If you cannot choose between a cat and a daruma, we make a lucky cat daruma that combines the two.

3. What Is an Omamori?

An omamori is a small brocade pouch sold at Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples as a protective amulet. Inside is usually a slip of paper or wood carrying a prayer or the name of the deity or Buddha enshrined there, though the contents vary by shrine and temple. The custom is not to open the pouch, because the protection is understood to live inside it.

There is an omamori for almost every concern: traffic safety, exams, love, safe childbirth, business and general good luck. They are normally replaced each year, and the old one is returned to the shrine for ritual disposal. Famous shrines such as Meiji Jingu in Tokyo and Fushimi Inari in Kyoto sell many designs. Wishes can also be written down and left in public, which is where the next charm comes in.

4. What Is an Ema, and Why Do People Hang One at a Shrine?

An ema is a small wooden plaque on which visitors write a wish before hanging it on a rack at a shrine or temple. The word means "picture horse." In ancient Japan, living horses were offered to the gods, and painted wooden plaques gradually took their place. Today ema are usually house-shaped with a pointed top, and many are printed with the zodiac animal of the year.

A rack crowded with hundreds of ema, each one a stranger's private wish, is one of the quietly affecting sights at a Japanese shrine. If you cannot visit, replica ema are sold as decor and gifts around the world.

5. What Is an Ofuda, and How Is It Different from an Omamori?

An omamori is personal and portable, while an ofuda is meant for the home. An ofuda is a flat paper or wooden strip carrying the name of a deity, traditionally placed high on a wall, often in a small household shrine called a kamidana. Ise Grand Shrine issues a particularly well-known ofuda called the jingu taima, which is distributed to households across Japan through a network of Shinto priests.

6. What Is a Hamaya, the Evil-Breaking Arrow?

A hamaya is a decorative arrow whose name means roughly "evil-breaking arrow." Many families buy one for their hatsumode, the first shrine visit of the New Year, and display it at home for the year to drive away bad luck. Hamaya are also given to babies, often around their first shrine visit after birth, known as miyamairi.

The arrow is purely ceremonial. Traditionally it has white feathers and is often sold with a small ema or bells attached. Protection can also arrive with a roar, as the next charm shows.

7. Why Does the Shishi-mai Lion Protect the Gate?

The shishi, or lion-dog, is a guardian figure in Japanese and wider East Asian tradition. At New Year, performers in shishi-mai (lion dance) costumes pass through neighborhoods, and having the lion "bite" your head is considered auspicious, a gesture believed to drive out evil and bring good health. Ceramic and lacquered shishi masks are sold as protective charms for the front entrance. Our lion dance daruma brings that guardian into the daruma form.

8. What Are Netsuke, and Why Were They Lucky?

Netsuke (roughly "NET-skay") are small carved toggles once used to hold pouches and containers on the sash of a kimono. They were carved from ivory, wood, bone and horn into animals, mythical figures and scenes of daily life, and many were considered lucky because of their subject. A rabbit is linked with the moon and good fortune. A frog, kaeru, puns on the verb for "to return" and is thought to bring money back.

Today netsuke are mostly collected as miniature sculpture, and they show how luck once traveled with a person through the day.

9. Why Do Families Fly Koinobori Carp Streamers?

Koinobori are fabric carp streamers flown on a pole outside the house in late April and early May, ahead of Children's Day on May 5. The carp is admired for its strength and determination. According to a Chinese legend, a carp that swims up a waterfall and leaps the Dragon Gate becomes a dragon. Flying koinobori expresses the hope that children will grow up with the same perseverance.

In the usual modern arrangement, a large black carp stands for the father, a red or pink one for the mother, and smaller carp for each child.

10. What Is a Kumade, the Lucky Rake?

A kumade is a decorative bamboo rake sold at tori-no-ichi, the rooster markets held on Rooster days of the zodiac calendar in November. Kumade are covered with auspicious symbols such as cranes, turtles, coins and the seven gods of fortune. The idea is direct: you use the rake to rake in good fortune.

Shop owners and business people are the main buyers, and the custom is to buy a slightly larger kumade each year as the business grows. The market at Otori Shrine in Tokyo is among the best known and draws enormous crowds.

Key takeaways

• A daruma is a round, self-righting doll that stands for the proverb "fall down seven times, get up eight"; you paint one eye when you set a goal and the second when you reach it.
• A Shirakawa daruma carries eyebrows drawn as cranes, a turtle-shaped mustache, and a beard marked with pine, bamboo and plum.
• An omamori is a small brocade pouch for personal protection, while an ofuda is a paper or wooden talisman placed high on a wall at home.
• Ema means "picture horse": painted wooden plaques replaced the living horses once offered to the gods.
• Maneki-neko colors carry meaning: white for good luck and purity, gold for wealth, black for warding off evil, and red for health.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the most popular Japanese lucky charm?

The daruma is one of the most iconic, thanks to its goal-setting ritual and its link with perseverance. The maneki-neko is probably just as familiar around the world, especially from shops and restaurants.

What does a daruma doll mean?

A daruma stands for perseverance and for a goal you have chosen. Its rounded, self-righting body echoes the saying "fall down seven times, get up eight," and the unpainted eye keeps your goal in sight until you complete it.

What do you do with a daruma doll after your wish comes true?

Paint in the second eye to complete the doll. Some people keep it for a while in thanks. When you are ready, bring it to a temple or shrine for daruma kuyō, a ceremonial burning, which is often held around New Year. Then you can begin again with a new doll and a new goal.

Can non-Japanese people use Japanese lucky charms?

Yes. These objects grow out of very familiar human wishes: to set a goal, protect a home, wish a child well, or build a business. Understanding what each one means and treating it respectfully is all that is asked. If you are starting with a daruma, our white daruma for painting yourself is a good one to make your own.

Where are authentic daruma dolls made?

Daruma are made in several regions of Japan. Takasaki in Gunma is the best-known production area, and Shirakawa in Fukushima has its own distinct style with its crane and turtle motifs. Each place has its own painting traditions, passed down through families of craftspeople.

What color daruma should I choose?

Red is the traditional color, linked with warding off illness and with the robes of Buddhist monks. Other colors carry associations that vary by maker and region. Gold is commonly chosen for money and business goals, white for purity and fresh starts, and black for protection. Pick the color that matches the wish you are about to make.

How Can You Bring These Traditions Home?

Each of these charms makes an intention visible. It gives a wish a form, a place in the house, and a day each year to renew it. People in very different times and traditions have felt the same need to say, out loud or only to themselves, this matters to me, and I am going to work toward it.

Of all ten, the daruma may be the most honest. It promises nothing. It asks you to paint one eye, commit to a goal, and earn the second eye yourself. That is why, in Shirakawa, we have been making them the same careful way for 300 years: the doll is only the beginning of the story, and you are the one who finishes it.

If you are ready to set your own intention, browse our collection of authentic hand-painted daruma dolls from Shirakawa, each one made by the same family, in the same city in Fukushima, using the same techniques our ancestors developed fourteen generations ago. We ship worldwide, and every doll arrives ready for its first eye.

Written by the team at Shirakawa Daruma Sohonpo, hand-painting daruma in Shirakawa, Fukushima for 14 generations.