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Buy a Daruma doll, burn it, then buy another.
As irrational as that sounds, it's not much different from buying lottery tickets.
If you don't have an intense desire for anything special, no dreams to fulfil, and not too bothered about acquiring fortune, then the Daruma is still useful for keeping demons away.
But let's assume you want some good fortune.
It's quite simple, but please keep in mind that the following is 100% superstition.
Stage I
First, buy the doll. There's greater chance of success if you buy it from a Buddhist temple during the New Year celebrations. It will have vacant eyes, as you'll notice in the image above.
Stage II
Decide which sort of fortune you want in the coming year: a new relationship, better job, success in exams, or whatever would satisfy your dreams. You don't have to tell anyone, except the Daruma of course, and you pray your wishes simply by painting the left eye with a large black iris. (The Daruma's left eye of course, not your own.)
Stage III
Later in the year, if Daruma has granted your wish, then paint an iris in the other eye. Daruma will then know your wish has been satisfied.
Stage IV
Finally, at the next New Year celebration, take your Daruma back to the temple for burning, and buy another one for the following year. Don't feel sorry about the Daruma's burning; if a doll is capable of granting wishes, then it's equally capable of reincarnation.
Of course not. You'll have more chance of success by actually doing something to realise your dreams, but if you enjoy spending your money on lucky charms, then please go ahead.
India, originally. A Buddhist monk named Bodhidharma travelled from India to China, and then to Japan in the Kamakura period and was renamed Daruma Daishi. He was quite serious about zazen meditation and legend relates how he sat in silence facing a wall for nine years.
During that time, he made the mistake of dropping off to sleep. As an act of contrition he cut away his eyelids to ensure his eyes would always be open. In time he attained enlightenment - which you symbolise by painting the eyes of the doll.
Unfortunately, the sitting zenzan for such a long time resulted in his limbs atrophying, which is why the doll has no arms or legs.
No, they are extremely light, and since the Muromachi period, the process for making the dolls has hardly changed.
First, a plain doll is carved from a solid block of wood to be used as a 'last' on which papier-mâché made from washi paper is layered. When dried, the papier-mâché is peeled from the last and reassembled a make a hollow doll.
Clay is added to the base to lower the centre of gravity, so that the doll will right itself if tipped over. That is an important feature of the doll, since it represents the monk's indomitable spirit of recovering his meditation after falling asleep.
The doll shapes and features we see today date from the Edo period. In addition to the basic round shape, vacant eyes, red clothing around a white face, dolls invariably have additional decorations. The beard and eyebrows might be made of real hair, the Shichifukujin's treasure ship may be painted on the dolls 'neck' to emphasise its role of granting good fortune, a turtle and/or crane to symbolise longevity.
Earlier dolls were painted yellow, the colour of monks' robes in India. Now the dolls are nearly always predominantly red, as are temple festival decorations, the wooden torii gates at shrine entrances, the homes of noble families in the Heian period, and so on. For the dolls, red is the colour of prosperity and believed to have a talismanic effect, though other colours are occasionally used in different regions of Japan. The overall shape may also differ, as can facial expression and decorations, but the Japanese superstition is the same.