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
Society of Japan Jızō .
Sanskrit Kshitigarbha the Buddhist helper of 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.