Lyric

Kasa Jizō – The Straw Hats and the Jizō Statues

Long, long ago, in a certain place, there lived a poor but kind hearted old man and old woman

One year, on New Year’s Eve

The two of them made straw hats together

They planned to take them to town, sell them, and buy rice cakes for the New Year

“We have five hats, so we should be able to buy some mochi,”

The old woman said

“Please be careful. They say it will snow tonight,”

She added as she sent the old man off

The old man set out, carrying the five hats

Before he had gone far, snow began to fall

The snow grew heavier and heavier, so the old man hurried along the road

When he reached the edge of the village

He saw six Jizō statues standing in a row

Snow had piled up on their heads and shoulders

Seeing this, the old man couldn’t just walk past

“Dear Jizō-sama, you must be so cold with all this snow

Please wear these hats.”

He gently placed the hats hats he had hoped to sell on the statues one by one

But there were six Jizō, and only five hats

So the old man took off his own hat

And put it on the last Jizō statue

When he returned home, the old woman gasped

“Oh my, you came back so early!

And where is your hat?”

The old man told her what had happened

“My, my… what a good thing you’ve done

We don’t need mochi at all,”

The old woman said with a warm smile

That night, even though it was long past midnight

A strange song drifted through the snowy darkness:

“Where is the old man’s house?

We’ve come to give thanks for the hats

Where is the old man’s house?

Something heavy was set down

And then the voices faded away

The old man quietly slid open the door

And in the snowy night he saw the figures of the Jizō statues

Each wearing the hats he had given them walking away

In front of the house

There was a huge pile of New Year’s rice cakes and festive food

The End