Kṣitigarbha at Byodoji

Byodoji, the 22nd temple of the Shikoku 88-temple pilgrimage and a temple of Kōyasan Shingon Buddhism, performs the Jizō goma on the 24th of every month. The 24th is the ennichi (sacred day) of Jizō Bodhisattva.

The Jizō at Byodoji is a bronze seated image, cast around 1750 through the donations of the people of Tsuyama in Okayama. He holds a monk's staff (shakujō) in his right hand and a wish-fulfilling jewel (hōju) in his left, seated quietly upon a lotus pedestal.

Byodoji also enshrines the Horidashi Jizō, said to have been unearthed by Kōbō Daishi. Held to be a stone image of around twelve hundred years ago, it stands beside the well of Kōbō's sacred water.

Prayers that hold children and the departed in mind—for children's growth, mizuko memorial, ancestor memorial, and more—are carried upon the wisdom-fire of the goma. It is a goma that looks to the working of Jizō's great compassion.

He is depicted not with an ornate crown but in the form of a tonsured monk. This is so that, in the form of the most familiar renunciant, he may enter into the six realms and stand beside those who suffer. He has long been beloved in the figure that holds a monk's staff (shakujō) in the right hand and a wish-fulfilling jewel (hōju) in the left.

The Sūtra of the Original Vow of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva (Kṣitigarbha-praṇidhāna-sūtra) sets forth Jizō's original vow: to become a Buddha himself only at the very last, after he has saved every suffering being without exception—"I now, until the end of future time, through incalculable kalpas, for the sake of these sinful and suffering beings of the six paths, widely set forth skillful means and bring them all to liberation, and only then shall my own body attain the way of Buddhahood." As a Buddha who guides the departed and protects little children, he has been widely revered throughout Japan.

The 24th is held to be the ennichi (sacred day) of Jizō Bodhisattva, and ennichi observances and Dharma assemblies are held at Jizō halls throughout the land. Byodoji, too, performs the Jizō goma on this Jizō ennichi.

The goma is a Shingon rite of prayer in which the wisdom-fire is kindled in the goma hearth, and goma sticks are cast into the flames while mantras are recited. You may entrust to it your children's growth, the memorial of the departed and of mizuko, and the memorial of your ancestors. Applications can also be made online.