Tradition / Region: Japanese mythology
Alternate Names: Kidnapper Jizo
Category: Mountain dweller
The Myth
Long ago, a master marksman, said to be the finest shooter in all of Japan, lost his way while traveling through the mountains. As night fell, he noticed a single house glowing with lamplight and went inside, hoping to find shelter.
Within the house he found a young girl sitting alone, weeping. When he asked what troubled her, she told him of a dreadful fate that haunted the village. Each night at midnight, a mysterious being came to take one villager away. No one knew where they were taken, and now the turn had fallen upon her.
The marksman told her not to fear. He hid the girl inside a closet and resolved to face the creature himself. Through the long night he waited, motionless. Then, at exactly three in the morning, a heavy thud echoed from the doorway. In that instant, the marksman fired his gun.
At dawn, he stepped outside and froze. Standing before the house was a Jizō statue, spattered with blood.
The statue spoke. It said that it had never wished harm upon the villagers. Long ago, it had asked only for a roof to protect it from rain and dew, but no one had built one. Left exposed to the elements year after year, it had decided to repay the neglect by taking the villagers away, subjecting them to the same suffering it endured. Yet it insisted that none had been killed.
The Jizō declared that if the villagers purified themselves and repented, all would be set right. When this was done, the statue raised its left hand, and the missing men returned. When it raised its right hand, the women emerged, unharmed.
Ashamed of their neglect, the villagers begged forgiveness. They built a fine shrine for the Jizō and enshrined it with care and reverence. From that time on, the kidnappings ceased, the harvests were plentiful, and the village prospered.
Thus Hito-jizō remained—not as a kidnapper, but as a reminder that even silent spirits must be treated with respect, lest neglect turn guardians into judges.
Gallery
Sources
TYZ-Yokai Blog contributors. (n.d.). ヒト地蔵 (Hito-Jizō). In TYZ-Yokai Blog, from https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1077383013.html
Interpretive Lenses
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Psychological Readings
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Political / Social Readings
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Other
- How to Invite The Hito-jizo