Speaker A
Today, I want to attempt the ancient Japanese dirt ball challenge, which involves taking just some normal dirt like this and turning it into a really shiny ball like this. But, the thing is, I have no idea how to do this, so
Watch as David Jones attempts the ancient Japanese doro dango dirt ball challenge, turning ordinary dirt into a shiny, polished sphere through a meditative process.
Ask about this video. Answers come from its transcript only — with the timestamp, so you can check them.
Generated from the transcript and can be wrong — check the timestamp.
Key Takeaways
- Doro dango is an ancient Japanese art of polishing dirt into smooth, shiny balls.
- The process requires patience, fine materials (dirt and clay), and careful polishing.
- Meaningful dirt adds personal significance to the challenge.
- Legal restrictions may limit where dirt can be collected.
- The final polished dirt ball can achieve a reflective, smooth surface despite natural impurities.
What the video covers
- David Jones attempts the traditional Japanese doro dango challenge, aiming to turn dirt into a shiny polished ball.
- He researches the meaning and process behind doro dango, learning it involves polishing dirt into a smooth sphere.
- David collects meaningful dirt from a favorite beach but switches to backyard dirt due to legal restrictions.
- He finds clay, dries it, crushes it into fine particles, and mixes it with water to form the ball.
- David kneads and compresses the dirt mixture, letting it dry overnight before polishing.
- He uses a mason jar and an egg cup with a water and olive oil mixture to polish the ball.
- The process is described as meditative and requires patience to achieve a smooth, shiny finish.
- Despite some imperfections caused by impurities in the dirt, the final ball becomes visibly shiny and spherical.
- David humorously documents his progress and reflects on the cultural significance of doro dango.
- The video combines educational content with lighthearted humor and personal storytelling.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction to the Japanese Dirt Ball Challenge
- 00:38Understanding 'Doro Dango' and Materials Needed
- 01:59Collecting Meaningful Dirt and Legal Concerns
- 04:07Preparing and Drying the Dirt and Clay
- 04:58Grinding Dirt into Fine Particles
- 06:34Mixing and Forming the Dirt Ball
- 07:03Drying and Preparing for Polishing
- 08:17Polishing Process and Meditative Practice
- 09:04Final Results and Reflections
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
I just went to record this scene where I search up how to make the dirt ball, and I just realized that I searched—I straight up Googled to Google in Google.
Speaker A
Ah, doro dango. I'm pretty sure doro must mean dirt then because dango means ball in Japanese.
Speaker A
Dango does not mean ball in Japanese. It means dumpling. And doro means shiny.
Speaker A
Shiny dumpling. I know of this like bouncing ball thing, and it goes like dango. Yes, here it is.
Speaker A
So cute. Oh, they fell in love. The two balls—they made a ball. Doro dango, the art of polishing dirt. So, this is what I'm trying to create right here. Water, a mason jar, and dirt. It seems pretty
Speaker A
simple. Like all this, you really don't need that much stuff. You can either walk outside into your yard and pick up the first dirt you see, or you can go exploring to find some really cool different colored dirt. Try to create
Speaker A
something [music] that is meaningful to you. Mhm. This person's telling the story about how they moved homes, and they made a doro dango from the dirt from their old home to remember it. Dang, that's a really good idea. That might
Speaker A
mean I have to travel to find some dirt. [singing and music] I am driving 2 hours to go collect some dirt. But, the website says it has to be meaningful to me, so we got to do it.
Speaker A
Hey, excuse me. Could I have some of that dirt? I just—I just need a little bit.
Speaker A
Move along, buddy. Whoa, whoa. I mean, it looked like they had so much dirt there. They could spare some. Geez, freaking rude cows.
Speaker A
[music] [music] [music and singing] This is my absolute favorite beach in the world, and it's also where I learned to surf, which is something that's shaped a lot of my life. So, it's quite meaningful to me. So, um
Speaker A
I think this is where I want to get the dirt at. But, first let's go catch a wave.
Speaker A
[music] That's how I'm going to get the dirt. This dirt stands no chance. And, what I'm looking for is just straight-up mud right now, pure brown mud.
Speaker A
Look at this little beach. Absolutely stunning. But, while wandering around the beaches looking for dirt, I started wondering about the legality of just taking [music] some dirt. And, it turns out you can't do it. So, I'm just going to use some dirt from the
Speaker A
backyard because I don't want to risk a $200,000 fine. I mean, it's not like I can't afford the fine. As if you've been watching my videos, you probably know that I recently came into a small fortune of $100 trillion.
Speaker A
But, probably best not to risk it. Now I have the dirt, I also need clay, which is the tricky part. I mean, there is a building site down the road that's just all clay. I found some clay. Next
Speaker A
thing is drying it out. [music] I'm going to leave them in this room all night while running the dehumidifier to hopefully dry the stuff out. Because from what I've seen, we need it dry so we can crush it up and
Speaker A
make it really fine. So, we'll start the dehumidifier and now we wait till tomorrow. It's the next day.
Speaker A
All right, the dehumidifier has been running all night. It's definitely looking a little drier.
Speaker A
Yeah, yeah, okay. I think we can work with this. Now, I'm going to try to break this up into the little dirt pieces and run it through the sieve.
Speaker A
Wait, no, no, it's a—the sieve. And we should have our fine dirt particles.
Speaker A
I've got this metal pole and I'm thinking I'm just going to try to poke at it until it just gets finer.
Speaker A
I think I need something bigger and more blunt because the metal pole wasn't really working. So, I got THIS CRICKET BAT.
Speaker A
OH, THAT'S WORKING WAY BETTER. [music] OH, YEAH, it's becoming way [music] more like sand now. It's been turned into just a fine powder.
Speaker A
Perfect. All right, now we can move on to the clay. [music] [music] [music] Now, we grab all our stuff, add some water, and then we just kind of like scrunch it together to make a ball.
Speaker A
[music] [music] All right, there we go. It's all mixed together. I think we just keep adding the water until it gets to like this kind of sticky, kind of texture.
Speaker A
[music] I think this will be easier to do with my hands. [music] I feel like this is right. This feels like a good consistency. Just need to knead it, kind of like you'd knead bread.
Speaker A
[music] Oh, yeah. Look at that. It's starting to become a smooth ball. I was a little skeptical, but I could kind of see how this might work out soon. Now I'm applying quite a bit of pressure to it.
Speaker A
[music] Look at that. It's so smooth. I've been rolling this ball in my hands for the last 30 minutes.
Speaker A
[laughter] So I'm hoping we're almost there. My thoughts about this is just trying to get it as compressed as I can.
Speaker A
I think that's about as good as I'm going to get it. [music] What? It straight up looks like a Malteser. Looks like that meme with the bald dude's head. Is this a Malteser or is it Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson? Now
Speaker A
I'm going to let this sit overnight again, and tomorrow it should be dried and ready to polish.
Speaker A
[music] The next day is upon us. All right, let's see. Oh yeah. Oh, it's hardened up quite a bit actually. Okay, cool. I think it's ready. This next step is all about rounding the ball, which from online I've seen a lot of people recommend
Speaker A
using a mason jar. So, I went out and bought this little jar, which is hopefully the right size. Supposedly, all I have to do is wet the ball and then just kind of run the top of the lid
Speaker A
around it, and it should turn it into a perfect sphere. Then once I have it as a perfect sphere, I go around it again and polish it with an egg cup. I found this one at the shop. It has a chicken on it.
Speaker A
But, this whole experience of making the dirt ball is meant to be this meditative kind of practice and patience. So, for the next part of this video, let me transport you to the zen zone.
Speaker A
Now, as I may appear to be in a scenic Japanese garden with cascading waterfalls all around me, located somewhere in Kyoto, don't let your mind be fooled.
Speaker A
For I'm actually in my garage in front of a green screen. Get out of here.
Speaker A
No, I don't want to go away. No, I don't want to go away. See you later. That was just my friend. Well, actually he's my neighbor. See, I've thrown on my full linen, I've got my headband to
Speaker A
keep my hair out of my eyes, and I'm going to try and enter a state of zen for this next part and just fully immerse myself in trying to polish my ball. I need to get my ball as smooth as
Speaker A
I can. [laughter] And from what I've seen online, people use a mixture of olive oil and water.
Speaker A
So, I'm going to put some water in this little tray right here. And then a tiny amount of olive oil.
Speaker A
There we go. One. Two. Three. Three drops of olive oil. Just going to mix that around a little. I've got my jar.
Speaker A
I guess we're just going to wet it and see what happens. All right. [music] Oh, hopefully this is doing something.
Speaker A
[music] Should be making the ball more round right now. All right, patience. I need to practice patience.
Speaker A
[music] This might be really boring to watch, but yeah, this—that's just what the process is right now.
Speaker A
There's some parts that are just a little bit indented and they're not—they're not getting the polishing. I think I just need to keep going.
Speaker A
[music] [music] It's starting to look pretty good. You can already see that it's starting to get really shiny. I feel like it's pretty much as spherical as I'm going to get it, but there's just these little patches. I don't know if you can see
Speaker A
that. Like this little patch right here where it just didn't get smooth, and I think it's because with the original dirt mixture, I think there's still some little bits of grass and stuff in there. And I think that's what's messing
Speaker A
it up. Like every time I shave it off, those little grass parts pull bits out.
Speaker A
But for the most part, it's looking really good. I did some searching online and I think we're okay. This next
Speaker A
It's starting to look good. It's almost kind of looking like a like a real expensive bonbon. One of these bonbons is not chocolate. And you got to do bonbon roulette. All right, there we go.
Speaker A
That's covered. Saturated so it all becomes muddy. So the whole surface is muddy. All right, there we go. And now we just polish it until it dries up.
Speaker A
[music] If you're enjoying this video of me polishing my ball, please consider subscribing. I'm trying to hit a million subs by the end of the year. The sound of the cup just like gliding over the ball is kind of
Speaker A
super relaxing. This is like the fifth pass with the egg cup. It's starting to really reflect the light. Now for the final part. This is the part that should add the mirror finish to this ball. We're just going to
Speaker A
take the bottom of the egg cup, put a little bit of olive oil in it, and it should make this thing shine. Take a little bit of olive oil on the finger, put it around this.
Speaker A
Let's give it a go. Ooh. Oh, damn. I can start to see my face in it. It's becoming so shiny. Holy crap, it's actually worked.
Speaker A
Woah, can you believe that's dirt? Yeah, I'm freaking mesmerized by this thing. Oh my gosh. Well, I'm not going to sit here and tell you it's a perfect dorodango.
Speaker A
Actually, it's pronounced a dorodango. This is my first attempt ever, but you know, there's these little patches which almost look like little continents on this tiny little mud planet. But man, the parts that are smooth, I can fully
Speaker A
see myself in this. I can see myself in polished dirt. [music] [music] Kind of looks like the dirty bubble.
Speaker A
Thank you guys so much for watching. If you enjoyed this, please make sure to like, subscribe, leave a comment. I hope this inspired you to get out there and make something. If you end up making one of these from this video, please send me
Speaker A
a photo. And I'll see you next time on the David Jones channel.
Topics:doro dangoJapanese dirt ball challengepolishing dirtDIY dirt ballmeditative craftclay ball makingDavid JonesJapanese culturehandmade craftspatience and craft
