Geo-Science Writer
This is a sequel to yesterday's article. Three days ago, in my blog article of Sunday 21 April 2012, I talked about Negai-Jizo. Many devoted locals worship this Jizo statue by their frequently visits. They water the statue and brush a certain part of the statue so that their health problem of the body part they brushed will be cured.
In front of the Jizo statue, there was a small (miniatured) stone shrine (see the above photo). The ash in the shrine suggests that it is used to place candles or incenses for some occasions. On the roof of the stone shrine, we found 8 bodies of small Jizo mascots. Probably because of his journalist blood, Martin immediately started to take lots of photos of these Jizo mascots.
For some reason, this Jizo mascot was so appealing to me. I never saw such a frequently worshiped Jizo statue before, which made me of think about the power of belief (rather than spiritual or religious issues). This Jizo also looked cute, and it was probably the first time for me to see such a small Jizo (mascot) before. So I went to the amulet shop in the temple. A young buddhist monk came out, and I bought one Jizo mascot from him (1,000 yen for each).
Here is the Jizo mascot (see the above photo). The Jizo wears a red hat and a red bib. The letters on the bib are "Onegai Jizou san" in Japanese, meaning "Please make my wish come true, Jizo san."
Yes, I have one wish, one problem to be solved. So this Jizo san will remind me to challenge the problem every day.
Shuji
Posted on Tuesday 24 April 2012