The Bosatsu Jizo and Ten Kings of Hell

The bosatsu (bodhisattva) Jizo is one of the most easily recognized figures in Japanese Buddhist iconography. The young, demure, shaven-pate monk was revered as a manifestation of the Buddha's concern and compassion for children, warriors, travelers, women in childbirth, and those suffering in hell. In the period of social chaos and warfare that swept through Japan in the late twelfth century and again in the fourteenth century, the cult of Jizo expanded widely, and his image can be observed in a variety of settings in both painting and sculpture.