Kimono Flea Market ICHIROYA's News Letter No.648
photo by: DaJJHman
The above brown ball is made of mud, I think you can imagine that but how about these? You will be surprised! Please take a look at this website. Today's newsletter is about this miracle ball.
Dear Ichiroya newsletter readers,
Konnichiwa, this is Mitsue from Ichiroya. Hajimemashite!
Writing English explanation of kimono items is my main job.
I would like to introduce interesting movements, kimono topics and so on with my coworkers from Osaka, Japan.
In Osaka, rainy season will start in a few weeks, and it continues rainy days for about one month. Actually, I like rainy days. Hearing the sound of rainfalls makes me feel relieved and calm. But spending rainy days for one month, I will be tired of hearing the sound of it and I miss sunny days.
Do you like rainy days? Even though it continues for one month?
Anyway, have you ever heard of Dorodango?
It is not an edible dumpling, but a mud ball.
For kindergarden and school children, making Dorodango is one of traditional pastime.
Mud is heavy and cool to the touch, satisfying their heart and mind. At playground, children snatch mud and carefully shape it to be as round as possible by hands.
Through playing with mud, it will contributes to children's originality and imagination.
They also learn human relationship with their friends.
It seems to have effect that emotion is stable, too. And furthermore, it seems to raise the concentration of children through making Dorodango. It takes much time to be completed.
Recently, making Dorodango is not only for children but also for adults. The process has been refined into the art of the Hikaru (shining) Dorodango, which has a glossy surface. Several different techniques can be used to make it.
Across all methods, a core of the ball is basically made of mud, which has been shaped by hands as round as possible. This core is left to dry, and then carefully dusted with finely sifted soil to create a crust several millimeters thick around the core. This step may be repeated several times, with finer and finer grains of dirt in order to create a smooth and shiny surface. Then a cloth may be used to gently polish the surface. The Dorodango may look like a polished stone sphere, but it is still very fragile. The process requires several hours and careful focus so as not to break the ball.
One can feel satisfaction, surprise and a great joy in the fact to make with one's bare hands such an amazing object from mud. Depending on the soil, the surface of Dorodango changes. If you use red soil, you can make red Dorodango.
To make Dorodango help you to enter a meditative state that give a material result for each one's distraction. Your Dorodango will likely show your defect, so the result will clearly show you how you are.
Surely, you will be surprised at your progress when you make your second, then third Dorodango. Try it!
How to make Hikaru Dorodango
http://www.kyokyo-u.ac.jp/youkyou/4/english4.htm
