T-shirt ORIGAMI DARUMA

The Daruma doll is a Japanese votive figurine representing Bodhidharma (Daruma in Japanese), the founder and first patriarch of Zen. Legend has it that Bodhidharma, after meditating for nine years in a row, losing the use of his legs and arms, fell asleep in a moment of weakness. When he woke up, indignant at his behaviour, he tore off his eyelids and threw them to the ground. Leaves sprouted from the eyelids and the tea plant was born.

The doll, usually red in colour, represents the patriarch in the stylised form of a man with a beard and moustache and no eyes, replaced by large white globes. The Japanese custom is to draw only one eye in black ink and make a wish: only when the wish is fulfilled can the other eye be drawn. The idea that the Daruma is the emblem of tenacity is also reinforced by the fact that some specimens have the particularity, thanks to their low centre of gravity, of never falling: if pushed to the side, they immediately return to an upright position (Okiagari).

The print on the t-shirt is without eyes, it is possible to request the colouring of one eye or both.