Jızō

 EXECERPT FROM THIS BOOK: A HANDBOOK FOR TRAVELLERS IN JAPAN (INCLUDING FORMOSA), BY BASIL CHAMBERLAIN,F.R.G.S. AND W.B. MASON, CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE ROYAL SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY AND LATE OF THE IMPERIAL  JAPANESE DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATIONS. WITH THIRTY MAPS AND PLANS AND NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS. NINTH EDITION, REVISED THROUGHOUT. LONDON. JOHN MURRAY, ALLEMARLE STREET. YOKOHAMA, SHANGHAI,- KELLY&WALSH, LIMITED-HONKONG, SINGAPORE.1913

Jızō is

Meeaning of the word is citate as it was written by the documents of Society of Japan Jızō .

Jızō is- Sanskrit Kshitigarbha , which is the Buddhist helper of those who are in trouble. He is patron of the of travellers, and of the pregnant women, and of children.

His image is heaped with pebbles, which serve in the other world to relieve the labours of the young, who have been robbed of garments by the hag named Shōzuka- no-Baba, and then set by her  to perform the endless task of piling up the stones on the bank of the river Sai-no-kawara. which is  Buddhist Styx.

 Jizō is represented a shaven priest with a benevolent countenance, holding in one hand a jewel, and  in the other hand-  a staff with metal rings shakujō.

His stone image is found more frequently than that of any other object of worship throughout the empire It need scarcely be said that the resemblance in sound between the names Jizō and Jesus is quite fortuitous.  

 Here in the pleasant restful shade of a grove of trees stood a large stone Jizo, the special protector of travellers, women, and children, beloved by everyone for his gentleness and mercy. 

CITATION ABOUT THE GOD OF CHILDREN JIZO FROM

TERRY'S GUIDE  TO THE JAPANESE EMPIRE INCLUDING KOREA AND FORMOSA WITH CHAPTERS ON MANCHURIA THE TRANS SIBERIAN RAILWAY AND THE CHIEF OCEAN ROUTES TO JAPAN A HANDBOOK FOR TRAVELERS WITH 8 SPECIALLY DRAWN MAPS AND 21 PLANS 

BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY LONDON CONSTABLE & CO LTD TŌKYŌ KYO BUN KWAN GINZA SHICHOME 1927 

Jızō ,the Sanskrit Kshitegarbha, is very popular with the Japanese and there are few roads in the Empire upon which his statues may not be seen only. The idols of Jızō  often appear in groups of six (Rokudō-no-Jizō) and are known as the six succorers. Their primary function is to assist generally the six classes of the reasonable beings, distinguished by the Buddhist metempsychosis. namely gods. men. asura,( in Hindu mythology one of a class of demons in perpetual hostility to the gods) animals, hungering demons, and those condemned to hell; but they render other special services besides. Their names are respectively Emmyō, Hōsho, Hōshu, Jichi, Hōin, and Kengoi.Jizō proper (who has been called the most Japanese of all Japanese divinities) is especially the patron of travelers, of children and of pregnant women. He is represented by the image of a bonze with shaved head, backed by a nimbus, holding a gem in the left handm in the right -a staff shakujō at the top of which metal rings are attachedm and with an illuminating boss in the center of the forehead, It is as the tender guardian of dead children that he is specially revered .All children must according to the Buddhists go to the Sai no Kawara.- the Buddhist Styx or the Dry River bed of Souls when they die. Here the hag named Shō- zuka -no-Baba along with the demons Oni torment them, and make them pile up small heaps of stones which they tear down as fast as the children build them. The frightened little souls run to the compassionate Jizō ,who hides them in his great sleeves and comforts them and makes the demons go away. And every stone one lays upon the knees or at the feet of Jizō with a prayer from the heart, helps some child soul in the Sai-no-Kawara to perform its long penance. And those stones you see heaped about the statues are put there by people for the sake of the little ones, most often by mothers of dead children who pray to Jizō. 
Many of the statues one sees near temples are adorned with a faded bib or cap or some little garment; either those of dead children or of living ones believed to have been cured of illness by the benevolent intervention of the deity. A common practice is to place a thousand tiny carved images of Jizō under one roof ranged on shelves one rank above the other and worship them collectively.

 Another is for a bereaved mother to buy a doll as much as possible like the lost child and offer it to Jizō.