Anyoin Temple: Kankan Jizō, Worn Away by Prayer

Jizō is a Buddhist figure associated with protection and compassion, often approached for help with very human problems. Here, those requests take an unusually physical form.

For a figure asked to relieve discomfort, it is a demanding line of work.

The sign beside Kankan Jizō dates it to 1699, during the Edo period. The statue is easy to date. The custom is not: exactly when people began striking it is unclear.

Its neighbours have a sign of their own. It names them Nakayoshi Jizō—roughly, “the Jizō of getting along”—and dates them to 1664 and 1670.

The older figures kept their faces.

The small stones are laid out in front of the statue. Looking at its face, I felt that perhaps it had already heard enough requests for one day.

Other sacred figures have also been changed by the attention they receive. At Hozenji in Osaka, repeated offerings of water have helped clothe Mizukake Fudō in moss. At Anyoin, devotion involves considerably more percussion.

Anyoin’s is not Tokyo’s only Kankan Jizō. Sensoji in Asakusa has one too, also struck with stones and named for the sound, although by the temple’s account it is said to have been a statue of Dainichi Nyorai—not a Jizō at all. There, worshippers offer salt and hope for prosperity. Senju’s hears about illness; Asakusa’s, about money.