Jizo Statues are recurring monuments found in the town of Yomawari: Night Alone, Yomawari: Midnight Shadows, and Yomawari: Lost in the Dark. They contain many vital gameplay mechanics.
Mechanics[]
Jizo statues serve three purposes: a place to quick-save at, teleportation points to make traversing the map easier, and respawn points should the protagonist die.
When the game's protagonist interacts with a Jizo statue, the player is asked whether they wish to offer a coin. If they choose to, the game will save their current progress. This provides an alternative to returning to the diary at Home to save.
After choosing whether or not to offer a coin to the Jizo statue, the protagonist can also choose to teleport to another discovered Jizo statue on the map.
Jizo statues can also act as a respawn point in the event that the protagonist is killed. She will always respawn at the Jizo statue she most recently interacted with. However, it is worth noting that if the protagonist visits her Home, she will respawn there instead of at any statue she visited before that.
Mythology and Theories[]
Jizo statues can be found everywhere in Japan, ranging from temples to the middle of the road. The reason for their abundance in Japan is because the statues have two major roles.
First, the Jizo statues are seen as a protector of children, especially for those who have died before or during childbirth. Because Japan's mortality rate of children were pretty bad in the past, there were many people who would worship Jizo for the sake of their children.
Second, the Jizo statues are also seen as a protection for travelers. As a result, they were placed on not only roads, but also dangerous places where travelers would need that protection.
These two important roles of the Jizo statues are reasons as to why they act as quick save spots, respawn spots, and fast travel spots. Since the main characters of the games are young children traveling out at night, these statues act as a means of protecting them.
Trivia[]
- In Yomawari: Midnight Shadows and Yomawari: Lost in the Dark, Telephones are introduced as a substitute for Jizo Statues when the protagonist is exploring the interior of haunted buildings.