Sanzu River
In the common tradition associated with the or the banks of the Sanzu River, Kṣitigarbha is portrayed as the protector of the souls of children, who are condemned to stack piles of stones vainly, for these towers are repeatedly toppled. In a later version such as the one recorded by Lafcadio Hearn, the oni demons wreck the stone piles, and torment the children, and the children seek haven with Kṣitigarbha who hides them inside his garment and comforts them. In an earlier version, found written in the , c. 1600 or earlier when the dead children pile stones at the Sai no Kawara ("Children’s Riverbed Hell"), winds and flames are the agents knocking down the stone tower, and the flame reduce the children into cremated bones, to be revived back to whole by the Jizō Bodhisattva (or by demons).