Teru teru bozu てるてるぼうず

Teru teru bozu (Japanese: てるてるぼうず; "shiny-shiny Buddhist priest"^[1])) is a little traditional hand-made doll made of white paper or cloth that Japanese farmers began hanging outside of their window by a string. This amulet is supposed to have magical powers to bring good weather and to stop or prevent a rainy day. "Teru" is a Japanese verb which describes sunshine, and a "bōzu" is a Buddhist monk (compare the word bonze).

Teruteru bozus became popular during the Edo period among urban dwellers^[2], whose children would make them the day before the good weather was desired and chant "Fine-weather priest, please let the weather be good tomorrow."^[2]

Today, children make teru-teru-bōzu out of tissue paper or cotton and string and hang them from a window to wish for sunny weather, often before a school picnic day. Hanging it upside down - with its head pointing downside - acts like a prayer for rain. They are still a very common sight in Japan.

There is a famous warabe uta, or Japanese nursery rhyme, associated with teru teru bozu:

Teru-teru-bōzu, teru bōzu
Ashita tenki ni shite o-kure
Itsuka no yume no sora no yo ni
Haretara kin no suzu ageyo
Teru-teru-bōzu, teru bōzu
Ashita tenki ni shite o-kure
Watashi no negai wo kiita nara
Amai o-sake wo tanto nomasho
Teru-teru-bōzu, teru bōzu
Ashita tenki ni shite o-kure
Sore de mo kumotte naitetara
Sonata no kubi wo chon to kiru zo

Teru-teru-bozu, teru bozu
Do make tomorrow a sunny day
Like the sky in a dream sometime
If it's sunny I'll give you a golden bell
Teru-teru-bozu, teru bozu
Do make tomorrow a sunny day
If you make my wish come true
We'll drink lots of sweet booze
Teru-teru-bozu, teru bozu
Do make tomorrow a sunny day
but if it's cloudy and I find you crying
Then I shall chop your head off

Like many nursery rhymes, this song is supposed to have a darker history than it first appears. It allegedly originated from a story of a monk who promised farmers to stop rain and bring clear weather during a prolonged period of rain which was ruining crops. When the monk failed to bring sunshine, he was executed.

Teru teru bozu in fiction

• In the ending theme of the anime Jungle wa Itsumo Hare Nochi Guu Final the main character sings a teru teru bozu rhyme.
• The design of the kaiju Nova from the television series Ultraman Leo (and later revived in Ultraman Mebius) is based on the teru teru bozu.
• In the manga 20th Century Boys, a couple of kids going through a "test of courage" encounter a giant teru teru bozu on a stairwell.
• In the movie Ima Ai Ni Yukimasu, the teru teru bozu was used by Yuji to prolong the rainy season in hope of spending more time with his mother.