In Japan since the Heian period, when the Pure Land Faith was widespread, people increasingly believed that the living things who could not be reborn in the Land of Bliss after death inevitably went to Hell, so that they had to hope from Jizo Bosatsu for relief from their suffering in Hell.
日本においては、浄土信仰が普及した平安時代以降、極楽浄土に往生のかなわない衆生は、必ず地獄へ堕ちるものという信仰が強まり、地蔵に対して、地獄における責め苦からの救済を欣求するようになった。