京都地蔵お盆South of JR Enmachi Station on a side street to the east of Nishioji Dori is an Art Deco Jizo Obon shrine.
The small shrines are sprinkled throughout Kyoto and surely number in the thousands.
The shrines, known as Jizo, are said to protect the children of the area.
According to writer Mark Schumacher, "Jizo works to ease the suffering and shorten the sentence of those serving time in hell, to deliver the faithful into Amida's western paradise (where inhabitants are no longer trapped in the six states of desire and karmic rebirth), and to answer the prayers of the living for health, success, children, and all manner of petitions."
Within is a stone Jizo, which is the centerpiece of the shrine.
It is brought out once a year, during the Jizo obon festival in August.
Most Jizo shrines have a fairly similar look; this one was jarring but attractive in its allusion to 1930s design. The tiles in particular are unusual.
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