Mention Jizo-dori in Tokyo and everyone will think you mean the street in Sugamo, Toshima Ward, where the silver set combines bargain hunting with visits to the famous stone jizō (bodhisattva statue) there. Walking near Edogawabashi Station on the Yurakucho Line, I pass a less well-known Jizo-dori, in Bunkyo Ward. A sweet-faced carved stone kosodate ojizōsama (bodhisattva who protects children) housed in a shrine at street's entrance draws me in.
"Our statue washed up here when the Kanda River overflowed," says Keiko Uchida, an elfin 74-year-old who runs nearby sweet shop Asadaya.
A placard explains that the stone figure — almost the size of Uchida — was deemed by locals as a divine gift and has been worshipped since it was deposited here in the early Meiji Era (1867-1912).