Mouth masks anyone?

Even Stone statues in Japan wear mouth masks during the high pollen season or when the flu epidemic hits the area. It is not unusually see many people with these masks on any given day. It also helps prevent you from sneezing on the people around you. Even in Hawaii, last year with the flu epidemic,  the local stores ran out of these masks very quickly. For a long while I thought that only Japanese used these in their daily lives. (^^)
You can find these Jizos, stone statues all over in Japan. Very generalized and simply explained, Jizos are Buddhist stone statues that look over the welfare and happiness of people. I will leave it up to Yokohama Dojo to provide a better guide to Jizos. I'd like to share a Japanese folk tale about the Jizos.


Once upon a time, there was an old couple. Though the old man earned his living making braided hats, the two of them led a poverty-stricken life. One year, at New Year's Eve, they had no money left and could not even buy traditional rice cakes. The old man then decided to go to the town and sell some braided hats. The town was crowded with people shopping for New Year's Eve, buying fish, alcohol and rice cakes. But nobody wanted a braided hat on New Year's Eve, since they would be staying at home. So, the poor old man who had walked so far to the town and shouted himself hoarse for the whole day, could not sell a single hat. He started his way back home without able to buy even some traditional rice cakes.
When he walked out of the town, snow began falling and it grew very cold. In a field, he happened to see a few statues made of stone, called Jizos. There were six of them and snow was piling up on their heads and icicles hanging from their faces.
The kind-hearted old man wiped the snow from their heads and put the braided hats he had not sold on the head of the statues, one by one, saying to them, "Nobody wanted these braided hats, so please use them." One hat was lacking, so the old man gave his own braided hat to the last of the Jizos, saying, "I am sorry to give you an old hat" and went back home.
When his wife saw him bareheaded and covered with snow, she asked him where his hat was. When he told her the story of the Jizos, the kind wife said, "You did a very good thing; even if we are poor, we've got a house and they do not." Then they sat near the fire because it was quite cold and had dinner. They had no rice cakes, so they had some rice with pickles and went to bed early.
In the middle of the night, they were awoken by the sound of singing. The old couple were very surprised, and more so when they heard a loud noise, "Bang!" They went out to see what was going on and were amazed when they opened the door.
Lots of parcels were piled up in front on the threshold of the house. There was rice, alcohol, fish, traditional rice cakes, New Year's Eve ornaments, warm blankets and kimonos. They looked around them and saw the six Jizos walking away with the braided hats the old man had given them on their heads. The Jizos had brought presents to the kind old man, showing their gratitude for his help and making his New Year a happy one. ( excerpted from Zine 5 Folk Takes)
Are there similar folk tales in America?
I hope that my posts have given members of Yokohama, Makiki and Mechanicville Dojos a sample of what I hope this blog will provide to us. As Sensei Tony stated karate is not just punching and kicking, it is about how you enrich your lives mentally and spiritually.  Perhaps we will eventually see a true peaceful world as we continue to share our cultures.
OSU!