FOR YOUNG READERS: "Kasa Jizo"

Six Jizos in a Japanese Temple (photo by Professor Jim Bucket)

This article is designed for younger readers, with activities more suitable for children and young teens.

If you walk in the countryside of Japan, you might see at a crossroads six little statues with bald heads. The only difference between them is the way they hold their hands. You might also see them in temples--or cemeteries.

These are the Roku Jizo, the six versions of one Buddhist "saint" who promised to save all beings from the six types of Buddhist hell. They stand for great compassion.

The story of Kasa Jizo shows how important kindness is. Kasa means the pointy kind of straw hat you see in old Japanese pictures (it is also the modern word for "umbrella"!)

Here's the story.

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Once upon a time, in a snowy mountain place, there lived a very poor old couple. To get a little money, they made shoes and hats out of straw, which the old man would sell in the nearest village.

It was New Year's Eve, and the couple wanted to buy rice to make a traditional dessert. So the old man took five hats to sell, but he wasn't able to sell any! He gave up and started back home, just as it began to snow.

The snow got worse and worse. When the old man reached the crossroads before his house, he saw that the snow was piling on the heads of the six Jizos there. So he took his five hats and put them on five of the statues. Then he removed the poor cloth covering his own head and tied it around the head of the sixth.

When he came home without the hats, the wife thought he must have bought the rice. When he told her what happened to the hats, she agreed he had done the right thing, and was proud of his kindness.

That night, after they went to bed, they heard someone at their door! As they rose from their bed to see what was the matter, they heard voices chanting, moving away from their small house. Peeping out the window, they saw six figures walking slowly away in the snow. Five of them had straw hats on their heads; the sixth had a piece of cloth!

When they opened the door, they found a pile of treasures: vegetables, gold, and even the rice dessert they had planned to make! The old man's kindness had been repaid.

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SOME WORDS TO TALK ABOUT:

• cemeteries: graveyards; places where dead people are buried
• chanting: a special kind of singing used in religious activities
• compassion: a special sort of kindness; the word means to "feel what the other feels"
• crossroads: place where two roads meet and cross each other
• dessert: sweet food, usually eaten after dinner
• peeping: looking carefully, trying to stay hidden
• repaid: paid back; getting back the kindness he had given 
• saint: a kind of holy person

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Questions to Answer:

Choose the best answer. Correct answers are in the first comment below.

1. What do the Jizo statues stand for?
    A. They stand for saints.
    B. They stand for compassion.
    C. They stand for hell.

2. How many hats did the old man sell in the village?
    A. None.
    B. Five.
    C. Six.

3. What did the old man do for the six Jizo statues?
    A. He gave them a special dessert.
    B. He protected their heads from the snow.
    C. He sold them his hats.

4. How did the old lady feel when she heard that her husband had given away the hats?
    A. She felt angry.
    B. She felt sad.
    C. She felt proud.

5. What is the lesson of this story?
    A. We should always have dessert.
    B. We should never give away valuable things.
    C. We should always be kind.

A Question to Think About:

This question does not have a "right" or "wrong" answer. It only asks your opinion.

1. Do you agree with what the old man did? Why or why not?