During the gallery visit trip to Kyōsai Kawanabe exhibition in RA. I got to know Daruma in his ink painting. Daruma is Bodhidharma, the founder of the Zen tradition of Buddhism.
Bodhidharma was a Buddhist monk who lived during the 5th/6th century AD. He is traditionally credited as the transmitter of Zen to China. There’s a legend saying he meditated in India for 9 years, before he had epiphany. During the 9-year, in order to avoid himself falling asleep again. It is said that becauses he mediated to too long, that his arms and legs fell off.
The interesting thing is, how people nowadays converted the legend and his characristics into Daruma doll. A tumbler doll that could never fall down (asleep). It is a interesting way to convert a characteristic into design.