Given the number of people who have, at some point, chosen to have an abortion, you might assume that people didn't consider it to be a decision involving a moral element. You would, though, be wrong. Positions that would, to our western minds, seem contradictory to each other, are often held simultaneously even by thinking Japanese, as they seek to stay reconciled to a culture that stresses the need to both blend in with others and blend in with nature. A passive, 'shikataganai', 'it can't be helped', is often considered the most appropriate thought with which to silence conscience when difficult decisions need to be made. Whilst Japan has a higher rate than most countries for aborting babies conceived within marriage, currently it is increasingly younger girls requesting abortions. The same girls sometimes then end up having problems conceiving once they are married and find that because of this, or indeed, even because the positive feelings they experience during a planned pregnancy, that they have feelings of regret for what they did before.
What then, is the jizo phenomenon? Jizo are in fact small figurines that crowd hillside cemeteries, nestle in groups in the corners of temples, or just as frequently, in tiny road side memorials. Many of these stones are adorned with simple red capes and occasionally, will also have toys as well as flowers placed with them. They are an indication that these never born babies are actually not completely forgotten. Jizo, it is said, is the protector of aborted, miscarried and still born children. Local temples are often called upon to perform a ceremony called 'mizokokuryo', that is, believed to assist in the peaceful resettlement of 'returned' children, who, by themselves, can't travel across 'the river separating the living from the dead'. A plaque displayed at the Hase Temple that explains the above, goes on to indicate that these children will remain in a state of limbo if their parents neglect their obligations to help them pass over. This is not mainstream Buddhist teaching, yet the number of these Jizo stones, often called children's gods, that can be seen everywhere, indicates the vast number of people who have felt an obligation to do something to acknowledge the life of these never or still born children. Jizo, as a branch of Buddhism, is not something that peaked in popularity centuries ago. It actually came of age in the 1970's. Most of those who bought and set up these Jizo stones, would probably not see themselves as fanatical devotees to a branch, some say cult, of Buddhism. Instead, they simply borrow the ceremony and the use of Jizo stones as things that express their concerns arising from their felt pain and provides a vehicle through which they can further express their feelings. Many neighbourhoods also hold a once a year festival called Jizo Obon. Separate to the main (adult?) obon which is held to honour the Spirits of the dead each year, Jizo obon is geared to involving all the local children and centres on the local Jizo figurines.
In our world of relativistic values, most cultures struggle with the biblical concepts of absolute rights and wrongs in values that forces us as Christians to talk about the problems of sin in each of us. Yet that doesn't mean that people in even the most secular of societies, aren't walking around without 'felt pain'.
One missionary recently attended a neighbourhood community workshop day. In one exercise each person in a group had to list on pieces of paper basic things needed for us to live. The range of answers given included air, food, money, a place to live etc. Groups then had to reduce the number of nominated answers, then merge with other groups and again reduce the number of nominated answers. Of these answers, the one that caused most discussion and then hung in among those considered most essential was the simple word 'forgiveness'.
The film, 'The Silent Scream,' was used by anti abortionists because of the way it graphically showed the baby feeling pain. Although like many of us, Japanese have found all kinds of ways of numbing their felt pain, I would suggest that some things like the Jizo figurines, speak graphically of their felt needs. We would appreciate your prayers that we might be effective in showing that God alone is the one able to forgive, heal, redeem and meet our every felt need.