Why do statues in Japan wear red bibs?

If you’re in Japan and walk by a temple or shrine, or especially if you stroll through an ancient cemetery like Okunoin, on Koya-san (I highly recommend it), you’ll see many statues wearing red bibs and hats, maybe even a Hello Kitty bib or two. At first, I saw a few and just thought it was decoration. But when I saw the bibs all over the country, I knew there had to be some meaning behind it. So why do statues in Japan wear bibs?

The simple answer is that red is a color in Japanese folklore that protects against demons and disease. But there’s a deeper, difficult story behind many of the baby bibs you’ll see on statues. Those bibs have likely been placed there by somebody with a child that died very young or is sick. It’s an offering of protective armor to that deity, fighting to protect their child from demons in the spirit world. Jizo statues at shrines and temples or by the side of the road is where you’ll most often see the bibs. But you might see Buddha statues adorned with red robes, or other deities, like Fudo-Myoo, wearing children’s bibs as well.