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起き上がり小法師 (okiagarikoboshi) Japanese meaning | Kotomora
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よく
遊あそ
ん
だ
。
When I was a child, I often played with a tumbler doll.
No matter how many times he fails, he bounces back like a self-righting doll.
Related words だるま refers specifically to the round Daruma-shaped doll, while 起き上がり小法師 is the broader term for any self-righting tumbler toy, including Daruma designs.
不倒翁 is a literary or archaic word for the same tumbler doll, whereas 起き上がり小法師 is the everyday modern term.
Counted with body; physique; posture · shape; form; style · substance; identity; reality · field (mathematics) · counter for humanoid forms (dolls, statues, corpses, etc.) · typeface; type
Written forms 起お き 上あ がり 小こ 法ぼ 師し
Standard kanji spelling; 小法師 is the original kanji for こぼし.
起お き 上あ がりこぼし
Common simplified spelling; こぼし is written in kana.
起お き 上あが り 小法師こぼし
Variant with 上り instead of 上がり; less common.
起上小法師おきあがりこぼし
Abbreviated variant; rarely used.
Etymology Compound of 起き上がり (okiagari, 'getting up') + 小法師 (koboshi, 'little priest'). The name describes the doll's action of rising up like a little priest.
