A weathered Jizō statue wears a red bib and sits among coins on a mossy stone base beside the Kumano Kodo trail near Mizunomi-oji, Tanabe, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. Jizō protects travellers, children and souls in the afterlife; pilgrims leave coins to ask for mercy or healing, and the village community uses the money to maintain the shrine. The stone marks one of 99 Oji shrines along the historic Nakahechi pilgrimage route.