Dorodango (Japanese: 泥だんご, lit. "mud dumpling") is a Japanese art form in which earth and water are combined and moulded, then carefully polished to create a delicate shiny sphere resembling a billiard ball.
Dorodangos made with a variety of clay and different techniquesWorld's largest[citation needed] Dorodango (diameter of 54 cm or 21 in)
The phrase dorodango (泥だんご) is derived from the Japanese words doro (泥, lit. "mud") and dango (だんご, a type of round dumpling created from pressed rice flour).[citation needed]
Techniqueedit
A dorodango at an early stage. In this case, the lack of gloss is due to it not yet undergoing polishing with fine dust particles.
Making the basic dorodango is a traditional pastime for school children.
More recently, the process has been refined into the art of the hikaru ("shining") dorodango (光る泥だんご), which has a glossy surface. Several different techniques can be used.[1][2] Across all methods, a core of the ball is made of basic mud, which has been carefully shaped by hand to be as round as possible. This core is left to dry, and then methodically and carefully dusted with finely sifted soil to create a crust several millimeters thick around the core. This step may be repeated several times, with finer and finer grains of dirt in order to create a smooth and shiny surface. A cloth then may be used to gently polish the surface. The dorodango, once completed, may look like a polished stone sphere, but it is still very fragile. The process requires several hours and careful focus so as not to break the ball.
In popular cultureedit
In Christopher Paolini's novel series The Inheritance Cycle, protagonist Eragon witnesses the King of the Dwarves King Orik carrying out a Dwarvish tradition of making an erôthknurl. The process of making an erôthknurl is highly similar to the process of making dorodango.
In the Discovery Channel series MythBusters episode "End with a Bang" (Episode 113), which first aired on November 12, 2008, hosts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman investigated the truth behind everyday sayings. They used the dorodango technique to create dung spheres in order to bust the myth that one "can't polish a turd". Using a glossmeter, they measured gloss levels substantially higher than the value of 70 gloss units, which is considered "high gloss". Savage's 106-gloss unit dorodango used an ostrich's feces, while Hyneman's 183-gloss unit specimen used a lion's feces. They therefore deemed the myth "busted".[3]
In episode 14, "Footsteps", of the anime series Your Lie in April, the character Tsubaki Sawabe polishes a dorodango to show to the protagonist, Kousei, in a flashback sequence. However, it falls apart sometime during the sequence before she can show Kousei, representing her feelings for Kousei in the present day.[4]
In Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town, Popuri gives the main character a dorodango as a gift.
dorodango, japanese, 泥だんご, dumpling, japanese, form, which, earth, water, combined, moulded, then, carefully, polished, create, delicate, shiny, sphere, resembling, billiard, ball, made, with, variety, clay, different, techniques, world, largest, citation, nee. Dorodango Japanese 泥だんご lit mud dumpling is a Japanese art form in which earth and water are combined and moulded then carefully polished to create a delicate shiny sphere resembling a billiard ball Dorodangos made with a variety of clay and different techniques World s largest citation needed Dorodango diameter of 54 cm or 21 in Contents 1 Etymology 2 Technique 3 In popular culture 4 See also 5 References 6 External linksEtymology editThe phrase dorodango 泥だんご is derived from the Japanese words doro 泥 lit mud and dango だんご a type of round dumpling created from pressed rice flour citation needed Technique edit nbsp A dorodango at an early stage In this case the lack of gloss is due to it not yet undergoing polishing with fine dust particles Making the basic dorodango is a traditional pastime for school children More recently the process has been refined into the art of the hikaru shining dorodango 光る泥だんご which has a glossy surface Several different techniques can be used 1 2 Across all methods a core of the ball is made of basic mud which has been carefully shaped by hand to be as round as possible This core is left to dry and then methodically and carefully dusted with finely sifted soil to create a crust several millimeters thick around the core This step may be repeated several times with finer and finer grains of dirt in order to create a smooth and shiny surface A cloth then may be used to gently polish the surface The dorodango once completed may look like a polished stone sphere but it is still very fragile The process requires several hours and careful focus so as not to break the ball In popular culture editIn Christopher Paolini s novel series The Inheritance Cycle protagonist Eragon witnesses the King of the Dwarves King Orik carrying out a Dwarvish tradition of making an erothknurl The process of making an erothknurl is highly similar to the process of making dorodango In the Discovery Channel series MythBusters episode End with a Bang Episode 113 which first aired on November 12 2008 hosts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman investigated the truth behind everyday sayings They used the dorodango technique to create dung spheres in order to bust the myth that one can t polish a turd Using a glossmeter they measured gloss levels substantially higher than the value of 70 gloss units which is considered high gloss Savage s 106 gloss unit dorodango used an ostrich s feces while Hyneman s 183 gloss unit specimen used a lion s feces They therefore deemed the myth busted 3 In episode 14 Footsteps of the anime series Your Lie in April the character Tsubaki Sawabe polishes a dorodango to show to the protagonist Kousei in a flashback sequence However it falls apart sometime during the sequence before she can show Kousei representing her feelings for Kousei in the present day 4 In Story of Seasons Friends of Mineral Town Popuri gives the main character a dorodango as a gift See also editMud pieReferences edit create dorodango Archived from the original on 2016 12 26 Retrieved 2017 01 14 泥だんご kyokyo u ac jp Archived from the original on 2006 06 03 Retrieved 2006 05 30 MythBusters Idioms Special MythBusters Season 6 Episode 113 2008 11 12 Your lie in April Crunchyroll Retrieved 2018 06 05 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dorodango Shiny Mud Balls Kyoto Professor Taps into the Essence of Play Illustrated step by step guide to making Hikaru Dorodango Dorodango Shining Mud Ball Shiny Balls of Mud William Gibson TATE Magazine Bruce Gardner s dorodango interview Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Dorodango amp oldid 1211296706, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
