Jizo (Ksitigarbha) Statues under Palm Trees: The Materialization of Early Japanese Immigrant Culture in Hawai‘i

Abstract

Since 1885, nearly 200,000 Japanese immigrants went to Hawai‘i. Although a body of literature on these immigrants already exists, intensive studies of their material culture like gravestones are limited. The focus of this paper is a particular type of grave, jizo-baka, which bears an image of jizo (Ksitigarbha) and is primarily associated with children. The analysis shows that distinct styles of jizo-baka indicates several aspects of immigrants’ life and their history, and that gravestone studies have the potential to disclose many unexplored aspects of Japanese immigrant life in Hawai‘i.