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Sarubobo

Sarubobo is one of the many special products in Japan.

Table of contents
1 What is Sarubobo
2 The origin of Sarubobo
3 The reason why Sarubobo has no face
4 Modern Sarubobo

What is Sarubobo

Sarubobo is doll's name of special product in Hida Takayama. Sarubobo is a kind of charm. Grandmothers make sarubobos for grandchildren as dolls, and for daughters for good marriage, good child, and being a well-rounded couple.

The origin of Sarubobo

Sarubobo means a baby monkey. In Japanese, monkey is called "Saru", and another way of saying is "En". There are some reasons why a baby's name of monkey was used. Sarubobo is included three wishes. The wishes are ... In Japanese, leave means "Saru", so bad things will "Saru" In Japanese, a happy home is Kanai "En"man, a good match is Ryo-"En" Monkey's childbirth is easy. These three reasons are the origin of Sarubobo. Sarubobo's face is red, a face of monkey's baby is red, too. So we call this doll Sarubobo
  

The reason why Sarubobo has no face

The reasons aren't sure, but some reasons exist. Originally, Sarubobo was made of the left over cloth from mother to her children. So Sarubobo wasn't needed to be a perfect likeness. This is one reason. The other reason is that we can imagine Sarubobo's face freely. When we are sad, Sarubobo looks like sad. When we are happy, Sarubobo looks like happy, too.

Modern Sarubobo

Recently, some people have modernized Sarubobo. Now Sarubobo has many colors, and shapes. There are color Sarubobos. Blue Sarubobo is for luck in study and work. Pink Sarubobo is for luck in love. Green Sarubobo is for luck in health. Yellow Sarubobo is for luck in money. There is a Sarubobo that has an interesting shape. We call this "Tobibobo."