The kodama is a shy forest creature, believed to live in certain trees.
While no one knows what good they bring, those who attempt to cut down a tree housing a kodama will most certainly meet with great misfortune. Thus, such trees are often marked with a shimenawa rope.
The spirits, rooted deeply in Japanese folklore, made an eerie-cute appearance as tiny white rattle-heads in Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke.
Make your own Kodama-chan!
Materials
- 2.50 mm hook
- Similar sized yarn (white)
- Darning needle
- 1 x 4mm brad (black)
- 1 x 6mm brad (black)
- 1 x 8mm brad (black)
- Polyester fiberfill
- Small pebbles (to weigh Kodama-chan down)
Head
With white yarn:
Round 1: 6 sc in magic circle (6)
Round 2: 2 sc in each sc around (12)
Round 3: *2 sc, sc in next sc*, repeat 6 times (18)
Round 4: *2sc, sc in next 2 sc*, repeat 6 times (24)
Round 5: *2 sc, sc in next 3 sc*, repeat 6 times (30)
Round 6: *2 sc, sc in next 4 sc*, repeat 6 times (36)
Round 7: *2 sc, sc in next 5 sc*, repeat 6 times (42)
Round 8: *2 sc, sc in next 6 sc*, repeat 6 times (48)
Round 9: *2 sc, sc in next 7 sc*, repeat 6 times (54)
Round 10 – 16: Sc in each sc around (54)
Round 17: *Inv dec, sc in next 7 sc*, repeat 6 times (48)
Round 18: * Inv dec, sc in next 6 sc*, repeat 6 times (42)
Round 19: * Inv dec, sc in next 5 sc*, repeat 6 times (36)
Pop in the black brads for the eyes – the 8mm brad should fall right below round 12, and the 6mm, below round 13. There should be a space of 11 stitches between the eyes. For the tiny mouth, pop in the 4mm brad on the 17th row, centred between the eyes.
Round 20: * Inv dec, sc in next 4 sc*, repeat 6 times (30)
Round 21: *Inv dec, sc in next 3 sc*, repeat 6 times (24)
Round 22: *Inv dec, sc in next 2 sc*, repeat 6 times (18)
Begin stuffing the head.
Round 23: *Inv dec, sc in next 1 sc*, repeat 6 times (12)
Round 24: Inv dec all around (6)
Fasten off and weave in ends.
Body
With white yarn:
Round 1: 6 sc in magic circle (6)
Round 2: 2 sc in each sc around (12)
Round 3: *2 sc, sc in next sc*, repeat 6 times (18)
Round 4: *2sc, sc in next 2 sc*, repeat 6 times (24)
Round 5 – 10: Sc in each sc around (24)
Fasten off and weave in ends.
Begin stuffing the body. Add some pebbles to weigh Kodama-chan down.
Arms (make 2)
With white yarn:
Round 1: 7 sc in magic circle (7)
Round 2 – 6: Sc in each sc around (7)
Fasten off and leave a long end for sewing.
Legs (make 2)
With white yarn:
Round 1: 7 sc in magic circle (7)
Round 2 – 5: Sc in each sc around (7)
Fasten off and leave a long end for sewing.
Assembly
- Sew on the body.
- Sew on the legs.
- Sew on the arms.
- Ta da!
As this is an original amiguruMEI pattern, kindly do not claim it as your own. If you plan to sell the amigurumi made from this pattern, I would be delighted to have you mention amiguruMEI as the pattern provider. You may place a link to this pattern from your site, but please do not repost it onto your page. Remember to share a picture of your own kawaii versions of Kodama-chan with amiguruMEI!
amiguruMEI 
Ahh!!! So cute. Using brads is genius too!
Thank you! Yes I love brads!
Thank you so much ! 🙂
Hi! just wanted to thank you for sharing the pattern. It´s beautiful!
I modified it a bit, hope you don´t mind (I enlarged the legs to 10 sc. instead of 7, same amount of rows. I replaced the brads as this Kodama-chan is for my nephew who is 1 year old). I´ll post some pics on facebook so you can have a look at it!
Thanks again!! 🙂
Cheers!
Looking forward to seeing your version of Kodama-chan! 🙂
Hey there would you mind letting me know which hosting company you’re working with? I’ve loaded your blog in 3 different
internet browsers and I must say this blog loads a lot quicker then most.
Can you suggest a good hosting provider at a honest price?
Thanks, I appreciate it!
Hi there! WordPress is the way to go 🙂
Wow, marvelous blog layout! How long have you been blogging for?
you made blogging look easy. The overall look of your website is magnificent,
let alone the content!
It is tremendous blog, I need to be like you
Thank you so much! You are too kind!
Hi Mei, I want to share with you my “love” version of your Kodama! 🙂 http://www.pinterest.com/pin/444449056948555006/
Thank you for sharing this fantastic pattern! ^_^
Reblogged this on Neverland Adventures! and commented:
Gonna make these!! ‘Cause they’re so cute and I want minions!!! 😀
I have been surfing online more than 2 hours today, yet I never found
any interesting article like yours. It is pretty worth enough for me.
Personally, if all site owners and bloggers made good content as you
did, the web will be a lot more useful than ever before.
I absolutely loved working on this amigurumi! I made it with glow-in-the-dark yarn for my tattoo artist who did my Kodama tattoo. I did alter the pattern but only for the legs. My leg pattern was R1: 6Sc in MC (6); R2: Sc, Inc (9); R3-R6: 9Sc. I added the extra row on to make them the same length as the arms, and I wanted them to be a little bit thicker as legs and arms aren’t always the same size.
Thank you so so much for this pattern and your amazing blog! I think I read somewhere that you created a book? Please let me know if you have more information on this, as I would love to buy one!
Here is the finished product:
That’s so great to hear Kelly! Sorry I didn’t see this message before the other one 💚💚💚 I love him so much! I’m currently on Patreon and you can find more Ghibli-related patterns there! http://www.patreon.com/amigurumei 💖 My book is called Amigurumi People 💖💖💖
It wouldn’t let me attach the images so here is the URL: https://imgur.com/a/fr4dBbd
Oh wow he is adorable!! Did you use glow in the dark yarn?? He looks so magical! I love him 💚💚💚💚💚