page_title: Dōsojin
section_title: Sae no Kami
hierarchical_section_title: Dōsojin / Important dōsojin / Sae no Kami
caption_attribution_description: English: Six Jizo statues at Takahatsu-Fudo temple in Tokyo, Japan, symbolizing the six realms of rebirth, and Jizo's efforts to rescue beings from each one. Français&#160;: ROKU JIZO (Six Jizô).
context_page_description: Dōsojin is a generic name for a type of Shinto kami popularly worshipped in Kantō and neighboring areas in Japan where, as tutelary deities of borders and paths, they are believed to protect travelers, pilgrims, villages, and individuals in "transitional stages" from epidemics and evil spirits. Also called Sae no kami or Sai no kami, Dōrokujin or Shakujin. Dōsojin are often represented as a human couple, carved male or female genitals, large stones or statues, or even tall poles along a road.
  Dōsojin are sometimes enshrined in small roadside Shinto shrines called hokora. In rural areas Dōsojin can be found at village boundaries, in mountain passes, or along country byways, while in urban areas at street corners or near bridges. When shaped like a phallus, they are associated with birth and procreation, and therefore marital harmony. When represented as a human couple, a Dōsojin is revered as a deity of marriage and fertility.
context_section_description: In modern times, Dōsojin have become fused in popular belief with a different deity having similar characteristics called "Sae no kami", whose birth is described in the Kojiki. When kami Izanagi-no-mikoto sought to leave after going to the realm of the dead (Yomi no Kuni) to visit his spouse Izanami-no-mikoto, he was chased by the demoness Yomotsushikome (黄泉醜女, lit. Yomi ugly woman). To stop her, he threw her a stick from which Sae no Kami was born. For this reason, he is the kami who prevents the passage of the spirits of the dead into the world of the living, and therefore a god who is a protector of boundaries. He is represented by large rocks set at the edges of villages. Because of the rocks' elongated shape, he came to be associated also with childbirth, children and matrimonial happiness. As a consequence, he was in turn associated also with Jizō, the bodhisattva who is the protector of children.
caption: Roku Jizō
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