At Zojo-ji temple, a wonderful buddhist temple, we saw long lines of of these child like statues dressed in red knitted hats and bibs, each with colourful windmill next to them, some also had small toys at their bases.
These are Jizo statues. Jizo is one of the favourite gods in Japanese culture. Jizo is seen as a
savior, working to ease the suffering of those suffering in hell, and who answers prayers for the health and success of the living. In modern Japan Jizo has also been assigned the role of protecting stillborn, aborted, miscarried babies and children who die before their parents.
According to this legend, children who die prematurely are sent to the underworld for judgment . They are sent to Sai no Kawara, the riverbed of souls in purgatory, where they are forced to remove their clothes and to pray for salvation by building small stone towers, piling pebble upon pebble, in the hopes of climbing out of limbo into paradise. Jizō comes to the rescue. Parents dress Jizō statues in hopes that Jizō will clothe the dead child in his protection.
In modern Japan, a red hat, bib, and toys are still often found on Jizō statues, the gifts of a rejoicing parent whose child has been cured of dangerous sickness thanks to Jizō's intervention, or a gift to help the deceased child in the afterlife.
