Pop Japan

Japan has another traditional toy made from cloth. This is the temari.

The word temari came from two Japanese words. The first word is te, meaning "hand." The second word is mari, which means "ball." These hand balls are actually cloth balls made from scrap silk from kimonos. Being made of quality garment, these balls are even more designed to perfection with embroidery pieces on top. Some mothers put a paper with a love or good luck message to their children when making these traditional Japanese cloth balls. With the decreasing use of kimonos through the years, the temari has also been put into the "tradition" shelf of the Japanese culture.

Photo by Conveyor belt sushi. Licensed under Creative Commons. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en)

Tags: tradition, japan, temari, cloth ball, te, hand, mari, ball, embroidery, ball craft, good luck message, japanese culture, kimono, scrap silk