Kanmangafuchiかんまんがふち

Along the banks of Kanmangafuchi Abyss, Jizo statues wearing red bibs line the river. Walking while counting them one by one, and counting them once more on the way back, the numbers somehow do not match—hence they are called Bake-jizo (Ghost Jizo) and Narabi Jizo (Lined-up Jizo). The sight of moss-covered stone Buddhas quietly sitting in this rugged gorge carved from the lava of Mount Nantai evokes a sense of time distortion unique to sacred grounds. Many Jizo were washed away by a flood during the Meiji era, and only their pedestals remain here and there in the broken lines. In the single aspect of not being able to determine their number, this is indeed an anomaly, while simultaneously remaining a place of deep prayer.