Teru teru bōzu - one of my favorite rainy season traditions

One thing I enjoy immensely about living in Japan is learning about cultural traditions that are vastly different from what I’m used to in my home country, including unique festivals and unique holiday celebrations. During the rainy season, I’ve come to love the little tradition of making teru teru bōzu, a type of cloth-based doll which is hung up to try and summon good weather for the following day. We’ve likely all encountered days on our calendars where we’d like for the weather to be dry, particularly when outdoor activities are planned, and this is Japan’s way of trying to encourage that!

Part of why I love the tradition so much is because the dolls are so easy to make. All you need are some paper towels, tissues, or even scrap cloth, plus a rubber band – a hair tie also works just fine – and some string or ribbon. It’s a great craft activity if you have young children, as you really can’t go wrong with it!

All you have to do is scrunch some tissue or paper towel into a ball shape, and then get a second piece to wrap around in order to make the body. Here’s a little step-by-step look into the process:

Step 1 :

Scrunch some paper towels (or tissues/fabric if you’d prefer - this is up to you!) into a ball shape.

Scrunching up the teru teru bozu’s head is perfect for a bit of stress relief, too!

Step 2 :

Get your second piece of paper towel and wrap it around the ball you scrunched up, ensuring you give it a bit of a twist to secure the head and create the flowy body.

It’s already starting to take shape!

Step 3 :

Secure the head in place with a rubber band or hair tie. You’ll also need a string or ribbon in order to hang your teru teru bozu up, which you can affix underneath the rubber band.

At this point, it's super easy to affix the string or ribbon underneath the rubber band to keep it secure for hanging the teru teru bozu up.

Step 4 :

Once you’ve made the body, grab a marker and draw on a face, and voila – you’ve got yourself a traditional Japanese doll to hopefully provide you with blue skies and sunshine when you need it! Conversely, for folks that might be wishing for rain, you can apparently hang a teru teru bozu upside down for that desired outcome!

Get creative, grab a marker, and draw on a face to make your teru teru bozu feel a little more personal!

Now, the real question is … do they actually work? Personally, I haven’t noticed any correlation between making teru teru bozu and rain-free days following it, but they sure are fun to create and display!

Have you ever tried making your own teru teru bozu? Have they been a good omen for you in preventing rainy days? Also, does your home country have any of these traditions that ward off (or perhaps encourage!) rain?