Hot, bubbling water attracts hundreds for its therapeutic properties. O-Jizo is the patron saint of children and travelers and one of the most easily recognized members of the vast Buddhist pantheon of saints and deities. Matsue Onsen's O-Jizo watches guard over a public fountain. This fountain belches forth brilliant, steaming water. Local households come and fill drum for their baths.
People boil eggs in the sulfur-enriched waters, which turn the egg's shells black.
And O-Jizo watches it all. He smiles ever so slightly. As I stood there, looking at the little statue with my own eyes, I saw him smile at me. The gentle dimples in his cheeks moved ever so slightly as the edges of his smile broadened. I took a cupful of boiling water and ladled it over his head, just as hundreds of other visitors had done before me.