Lost souls

There is nothing to choose between lost souls!

Images of Jizo closely resemble those of Buddha with one outstanding difference. Jizo is always shown with a completely smooth head, while Buddha's head has ringlets of curls. There are many stories of Jizo and many beliefs. In legend he protects the souls of children who die young from the evil spirits they face in the other world.

Jizo is always shown with a completely smooth head, while Buddha's head has ringlets of curls

There is a theory that Jizo are given red bonnets to disguise the fact tha some of them were originally originally roadside ancestral gods (Dousojin/Dousoshin道祖神) which were often phallic. ( Others depicted rice cake beating which represents sex and child-making hence the connection with the lost souls of children). But despite looking under several bonnets I have only ever found a smooth head.

Are they lost? Just because children doesn't mean lost. the fact that jizo have been ereceted fro them nmeans someone is watching over them, no?

There are O-jizos everywhere in Japan. I don't mind what they believe in. It seems that people try not commit bad things before/around O-jIzo. That is good at least.