In the mind of an Ashley

Years ago I came across images of the Jizo and fell in love with him and after reading about him I found out why. 

The story goes, that the souls of children who die before their parents, are not capable of crossing the fabled Sanzu River (similar to the Styx river in Greek mythology) in the afterlife. This is because they have not had the time to accumulate enough good deeds (karma) and they have made their parents suffer. It is believed that Jizo saves these souls from the punishment of having to pile stones eternally on the bank of the river. O-Jizo-sama, is thus widely recognize as the saint patron of dead children, especially still-born and aborted children.

You often encounter Ojizo-sama in graveyards and it is not unusual to see the idol adorned with a red bib and a red baby hat. The reason for this, is parents put it there to either thank him for saving a child from illness or to ask him to protect a child in the after-life. Thus each time you see a Jizo statue, adorned with these clothes, you witness the pain of a parent. Sometimes, you’ll see small piles of stones next to the statues and those are connected to building stupas for the granting of merit. Doing so, the parents hope to earn enough merit for their child so that it can cross the river as fast as possible and thus, end suffering.

(info from: http://www.japanese-buddhism.com/jizo-bosatsu.html)