Mizuko Jizo at Enmei Shrine

The link below is a previous blog entry about a small shrine located in the middle of the Honch (Dobu-ita Street) -- called: "Enmei Jizo Son" .... It has been there for over 100 years... 

 

https://deepyokosuka.blogspot.com/2017/05/enmei-jizo-tiny-shrine-in-middle-of.html

One special characteristic of the compact commemorative building/holy space is the large number of small "Mizuko Jizo" (水子地蔵) statues which have been placed inside.

So, what is a Mizuko?

Mizuko has come to be known in modern times as a term to refer to a child who was not able to be born due to abortion, miscarriage, stillbirth, etc.

Originally the term referred to a newborn child, but after the 1970s, when Mizuko kuyo (水子供養) became popular, it began to be used in the modern sense.

A Mizuko kuyo  is a memorial service for a child who was not able to be born.

Mizuko kuyo is a custom that became popular in the 1970s and does not have a long history.

In Japan, abortion was permitted under the Eugenic Protection Law (now the Maternal Health Law) of 1948, and the heyday of abortion was in the 1950s.

After 1970, medical advances made it possible to see the fetus, which changed the perception of fetal life, and at the same time, religious people and TV shows riding on the occult boom began to talk about the "mizuko curse." Around this time, the generation that had experienced abortions were raising children who had reached adolescence and young adulthood, and they were aging, so it coincided with a time when various problems began to increase within the family.

These domestic and social anxieties were linked to the mizuko curse, and the mizuko kuyo boom began in the 1970s.

And what is a Jizo?

Mizuko Jizo is a Buddha who comforts the spirits of unborn babies.

Jizo Bodhisattva is a Buddha who travels through the six realms (Hell, Hungry Ghosts, Animals, Ashura, Humans, and Heaven) and offers a helping hand to people.

In some areas, he is worshipped as a Buddha who protects children in particular. It was Jizo Bodhisattva who saved the children at the "Sai no Kawara."

Because of this characteristic, he is the object of worship when holding a memorial service for unborn babies.

More information (in Japanese) at this link:

https://ohaka-sagashi.net/news/mizukojizo/

Duties of Uraga Magistrate's Office

The Uraga Magistrate’s Office ( 浦賀奉行所 ) was established in 1720 in the area formerly known as Nishi Uraga Village.  There were facilities such as the Uraga Administration Office for official duties and the Uraga Inspection Office (checkpoint) which inspected ships entering and leaving Edo (present-day Tokyo).

Here is some more information on what the office was tasked to do:

 入り鉄砲に出女 "Iri Teppo ni Shu-jo" (guns in, women out) was one of the transportation policies aimed at maintaining order in Edo and controlling the daimyo during the Edo period and was enforced by the Edo Shogunate at checkpoints.

  -- "Iri-teppo" refers to weapons such as guns brought into Edo.

  -- "Shu-jo" refers to women who leave Edo, and are wives and daughters of feudal lords living in Edo.

== [Purpose]

To prevent feudal lords and others from rebelling in Edo.

To prevent the wives and daughters of feudal lords who were living in Edo as hostages from fleeing to their home provinces and rebelling against the shogunate.

== [Method of crackdown]

For the passage of guns, a gun pass with the seal of the senior councilor must be submitted to the checkpoint.

For the passage of women, the pass that they carried was checked against the Shogunate's caretaker's seal, and the details written on the pass and the woman were carefully revised and confirmed before they were allowed to pass.