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These effigies behind me are
probably the most common
religious artifact
that you'll see in japan.
They are Jizou
or, dousoshin.
which means er...
the patron saint of children
They protect children and er,
perhaps encourage the birth of children
or roadside ancestral deity
dousoshin
which means that they
well, live on the roadside
I'm now by the side of the road
the shrine's b'b'beside the road
And, er, they often mark out the boundaries
of a village or a
settlement of houses
er, people make offerings to them.
You can see here
That, er, people have made
offerings of flowers,
A cup of er, rice wine.
That wouldn't last long in Britain.
And also the red bibs (and hats)
that they're wearing
They're also a kind of offering
and related to a myth that
that someone who, er...
put red bibs
on Jizou er statues
because they look cold
was subsequently rewarded
with um, a lot of food
because the statues were grateful
They're revered to this day
The little old lady that
cleans up this shrine
er, comes and prays here quite a lot
and as you can see
people are still making offerings
I wonder how long it will be before
Young Japanese people
no longer feel the need to, er,
respect their local
roadside ancestral dieties
Here's to you Jizou!