Sometimes
a figure of noble height, carved in stone or in the living rock, sometimes
no more than a rough carving in wood, he is represented as a priest with
kindly face, holding a traveller's staff in his right hand and a globe in
his left. He stands upon a lotus-flower, and about his feet there lies a
pile of pebbles, to which pile each wayfarer adds a fresh pebble.
And the old grandmother bade the children never pass a figure of Jizo
without paying it the tribute of a pebble, for this reason: Every little
child who dies, she said, has to pass over So-dzu-kawa, the river of the
underworld. Now, on the banks of this river there lives a wicked old hag
who catches little children as they try to cross, steals their clothes from
them, and sets them to work to help her in her endless task of piling up
the stones on the shore of the stream. Jizo helps these poor children, and
every one who throws a pebble at the foot of this shrine also takes a share
in lightening the labour of some little one down below.
Another favourite story is that of Urashima, the fisher-boy. Urashima was a
handsome fisher-boy, who lived near the Sea of Japan, and every day he went
out in his boat to catch fish in order to help his parents. But one day
Urashima did not return. His mother watched long, but there was no sign of
her son's boat coming back to the shore. Day after day passed, and Urashima
was mourned as dead. But he was not dead. Out on the sea he had met the
Sea-God's daughter, and she had carried him off to a green, sunny land
where it was always summer.
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