#darumamon

Level: Ultimate/Perfect

Type: Mutant

Attribute: Vaccine

Special Move

・Daruma Fire Charge

・Daruma Execution

Profile

An unidentified Mutant Digimon that wears a daruma costume. The streamlined shape of its suit deflects all attacks, and is specially designed to prevent the wearer from tumbling over. Gentle by nature, Darumamon is often found sitting in quiet meditation—however, if you make one hostile, it displays an almost-ridiculous level of strength. A small number have been confirmed to exist on an island in the eastern Digital World.

Something that actually has surprised me is that it took so long for us to get a Darumamon, given that those little guys are a piece of Japanese culture that is fairly commonly portrayed in a lot of Japanese media.

I am assuming most people reading this have seen them show up in some piece of media before. Those weird little red dolls that often have blank eyes.

The Daruma dolls are a Japanese tradition stemming from Buddhism. Specifically Zen Buddhism, the kind that you will most commonly find in Japan.

These little red wooden dolls do actually not just portray a weird little guy, but a very specific legendary Indian monk, Bodhidharma. He is considered to be the historical person who actually brought Zen Buddhism to China, though like many historical figures who lived very long ago and were closely linked to religion it is quite hard to find where the myth ends and history begins.

One of the myths around him was that he had his eyelids cut away so he would never fall asleep again, which is probably where the design of the Daruma comes from.

Daruma are traditionally sold with two white eyes. When you have a big goal you try to archive, you fill the left eye in, as you pray to archive the goal. Once you archive it, you fill the right eye in as well. Usually then the dolls are brought back to the temple on New Years, where they will be ritualistically burned.

Generally it is said that people only ever keep a Daruma for one year, which is why they have been so closely associated with New Years. A lot of people - especially those who might have a big plan for a year (like graduating school or uni, or getting a specific job) - will get a Daruma at the beginning of the year as a good luck charm, but also a reminder to themselves of what they plan to archive.