#ojizosama

[pix4japan]

Jizo Bodhisattva & “23rd Night” Stone Tablet・地蔵尊と「二十三夜塔」

Leaving the Toke Trail, I climbed down from the nearby mountain into a small mountain farming village before traversing one more peak to reach the parking lot. It was here that I came across this very typical rural scene.

On the far left and right are stone engravings of Bodhisattva Seishi, a Buddhist deity believed to be the incarnation of the moon.

In the middle are two Jizo Bodhisattva statues with red hoods. Affectionately known in Japan as O-Jizō-sama (お地蔵様), the beloved patron of children, expectant mothers, firemen, travelers, and pilgrims.

The primary object at this site is the stone tablet with the engraving of 「二十三夜塔」 (23rd Night Monument). This phrase references Tsukimachi (月待ち), a folk tradition where local villagers would gather to eat and drink while waiting for the moon to rise on the 23rd day of the lunar month to pray for a bountiful harvest.

Full write-up (2-minute read) and links to Google Maps and sources for further reading: https://www.pix4japan.com/blog/20241126-tsukimachi

23rd Night Stone Tablet・二十三夜塔 Location: Hikawa Gorge, Tokyo, Japan Timestamp: 14:50・2024/11/26 Fujifilm X100V with 5% diffusion filter ISO 320 for 1/250 sec. at ƒ/2 Astia/Soft film simulation

O-Jizō-sama Statue・地蔵尊 Location: Hikawa Gorge, Tokyo, Japan Timestamp: 14:52・2024/11/26 Fujifilm X100V with 5% diffusion filter ISO 320 for 1/300 sec. at ƒ/2.2 Astia/Soft film simulation

[maiji]

Painted this during the train ride to Osaka this [Oct 13] morning. On the eve of Typhoon 19/Hagibis’ landing, this little Jizo omamori I had bought at Hasedera (Kamakura) on my last trip to Japan and always kept on my bag broke and bounced off my foot while I was talking to @atorier . This was both interesting and eerie to me because there’s a belief that when charms like this break, it’s because they saved you from a greater calamity. It’s entirely possible that the cord was weakened from my being out in the early typhoon rain in the morning, and perhaps it snagged on something - I certainly didn’t notice anything until I felt it hit my foot, and I can’t find the rest of the cord. Whatever the reason, it was a notable event in my mind, and as I’m writing this I can’t believe the typhoon was only last night. I’m extremely grateful that we experienced little more than an inconvenience in the bigger picture when there was so much destruction in multiple parts of the country.

Jizo Bosatsu (also known as Ksitigharba Bodhisattva or Dizang Pusa) is one of the most well-known bodhisattvas in East Asian/Mahayana Buddhism. He’s particularly beloved in Japan, where he’s commonly seen as a protector of children and travellers. https://www.instagram.com/p/B3jw1Ulhik9/?igshid=10ky31q168ujy

[junko222]

Just curious, where do you think Kurotsuchi comes from? Like, do we want to know from what cave he crawled out of? He might come from the Rukongai, or is he artificially made?

Well, my friend Josey ( @7emptymirrors, here,) thinks that maybe Senjumaru Shutara may have made Kurotsuchi.  

Given what a BIG DEAL is made of the fact that Nemu is the first artificial soul, I’m going with the idea that Kurotsuchi was born… possibly into the Seireitei, and I’ll tell you why I think there and not the Rukongai.  

The punishment squad.

We see Kurotsuchi in the Maggot’s Nest in the Turn Back the Pendulum Arc. From that arc, we also know that Kurotsuchi gets back into the general population because Urahara just decides to give him the Third Seat in his ‘new’ Division.

The Bleach wiki reminds us:  Regarding the Punishment Squad / Onmitsukidō; “They also have another duty known as Special Detention, which concerns those who joined the Gotei 13 but were judged to be a danger to their fellow Shinigami. They investigate, apprehend, and keep these individuals sealed away from the rest of Soul Society within the Special Underground Detention Facility, aka. the Nest of Maggots. It should be noted that those few who are kept in the Maggots’ Nest have not actually committed any crime but have been identified by the laws of Soul Society as “Dangerous Elements””

It is unclear where Kurotsuchi got his zanpakutō, so my theory is either 1) he was already in the Gotei, possibly Academy trained, and was judged dangerous (BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, HE LIKES TO PUT BOMBS IN UNSUSPECTING PEOPLE)… or 2) he was picked up at an early age because he was identified as being a dangerous element and got Ashisogi Jizō as part of being instated as an officer.

I have a tendency to imagine scenario #2 because of he nature of Ashisogi Jizō. Do you know about o-jizō-sama? 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kṣitigarbha#In_Japan

Kurotsuchi’s zanpakutō spirit wears the face (and bears the name) of a beloved, kindly shrine god who, traditionally, is seen as the guardian of children, and in particular, children who died before their parents.  Jizō hides the spirits of children under his robes to protect them  from demons.

If you were a child in the Maggot’s Nest, I feel like you might have a close kinship to O-Jizō-sama. Even if you become so twisted by your experiences there that later you torture that spirit, it would still stay with you… because of its nature.

Thus, this feels very much to me like what could be Kurotsuchi’s backstory. I would say the Seireitei for his birth, if only because I think it would be harder for the Punishment Squad / Onmitsukidō to find a ‘danger to society’ out in the Rukongai. If they could, I think they’d have picked up Kenpachi Zaraki long before he was able to take the captaincy. 

[strangetalesandhiddenwisdom]

Sometimes the haunting begins with realizing where you are standing.

Some statues do not grant wishes. They remember where sorrow once stopped walking.

In Japanese folklore, Jizō statues are often seen as gentle guardians of children, travelers, and souls caught between worlds. You may find them beside old roads, at village edges, near cemeteries, or in places where someone once needed comfort more than words.

But this story looks at the quieter, stranger side of that compassion.

A young traveler bows before a small roadside Jizō and whispers an ordinary wish. Only later does he learn that this statue was not placed there for luck, success, or romance. It was a marker of grief, memory, and respect—a place where villagers left water, flowers, and silence for those who had suffered nearby.

The fear here is soft, not violent. No monster appears. No curse screams. Instead, the haunting comes from realizing that some sacred places are not meant to serve us. They ask us to pause, bow, and understand where we are standing.

Read the full reflection here: https://xn--h9jd1h9h4a5t.com/wpj/category10/entry74.html

[lookinglisteninglearning-blog]

Ojizosama statues. Said to be guardian of children, especially those who pass before their parents. People put clothes on the statues to protect them in cold weather. 

[japan-desingn-chindonchannel]

Jizo

Jizo is a guardian deity of children.