Thomas shows Avi the Kishibojin Shrine

It is sometimes annoying when The Japanese insist on their uniqueness, but you have got to admit that in many ways their is no culture like theirs.
In what other country can you see such excitement built up by the media about the northward progress of cherry blossoms,or in other words, the cherry blossom front. Where else can you find such such enthusiasm and intention in the process of blossom viewing?
Leaving the throng of revellers at the famous local viewing point, Hojo oike, behind,thomas said that he wanted to show me a special place that he had been led to a few years ago by a girl whom he had met by chance on the road and offered to show him a'very beautiful place.
Just a little ways up a narrow and winding mountain road past an old graveyard demarcated by creepy, hand-drawn jizo candleboards, we came to the spot, so perfect on that day, bursting in full-bloom.
The shrine itself was also of great interest, being dedicated to Kishibojin, a goddess who aids in fertility, easy delivery and marital harmony. She also has a very interesting story. The loving mother of a thousand children, she feeds them all off the flesh of other people children whom she kills.
When Sakyamuni, the Buddha, hears of this woman, he decides that he must teach her a lesson, and promptly abducts one of her kids. She becomes frantic and begins a desperate search for her child. After deciding that his point had been made, the Buddha returns her son safely and after sermonizing her realizes that she has come to understand the suffering she has inflicted on other mothers. She has been taught to care about the feelings of others. She is usually depicted holding a pomegranite(zakuro), which is a symbol of fertility because of its abundant seeds.