That's just so fantastic! I want to go make dorodango right now! Sweet Jeebus!

Jim, you were the first person I thought of when I read this!

I love the photo credits: "Association of Nippon Doro-dango Science". I'm not sure whether part of the charm is spoiled or enhanced by the fact that the technique for reliably making shiny mud balls was developed by a professor of psychology.

If this were in America, Wizards of the Coast would have copyrighted the process and been handing out lawsuits for unlawful use of proprietary manufacturing techniques, while selling collectible polishing rags and whatnot.

This is perhaps the greatest link yet this year!

This sort of fad has swept Japan for centuries. You should read the short story "Seibei and the Gourds" by Shiga Naoya. A child has a hobby of polishing gourds. It's actually a rather brilliant tale about nonconformity.

Another dorodango page. I love the pink caps the kids are wearing! http://ww21.tiki.ne.jp/~ohisama/Topics/e/dorodango.htm

Great post, Cory! Look what I found, a cute site with pictures of japanese kids making their mud balls: http://www2.justnet.ne.jp/~toshinao/dorodango/1dango/1dango.htm

There are three pages in all here, click on "No. 2" with the green arrow to get to the next page.

American schoolyard trends suck by comparison. We used to wrap toilet paper around dirt clods, throw it in the air, and watch it unravel and blow into the neighboring apartment complex. When I revisited Sunnyvale decades later the apartment complexes had consumed Bennett Elementary. Goodbye Bengals.