‘I can only move my feet towards mizuko kuyō’ Memorial Services for Dead Children in Japan

Abstract

Mizuko, literally ‘water-child’, is the name now given in Japan to children who have died ‘out of order’, that is, before their parents. This includes children who have died as a result of spontaneous or induced abortion as well as stillborn infants and those who have died from any manner of illness or accident after they were born.¹ The Japanese practice of mizuko kuyō, often identified as Buddhist memorial services for these dead children, centres around the performance of some variation of a memorial service for ancestral spirits (senzo kuyō). As such, the mizuko service usually includes elements which are standard to Buddhist memorial services in Japan: the chanting of special texts and presentation of offerings by clergy and audience, manipulation of religious implements and supervision of the audience by the clergy, and acts of purification performed by the audience.