The Jizo Foundation

The Jizo Foundation was established in April 2020 by mythologist, author, and grief counselor, Dr. Patricia Danaher, to help families grieving the loss of a baby at birth or before, by acknowledging such loss in ways that Western society does not currently accommodate. It aims to provide social, emotional, and spiritual comfort through the practice of ritual and engagement with Jizo by those grieving any kind of loss like miscarriage, still-birth, failed IVF, termination, missed chances, by creating public grieving areas in existing cemeteries and green burial grounds enhanced with public art.

In November 2023 we opened our first Jizo Grieving Site within a historic cemetery,  Westwood Hills Memorial Park, located at 2720 Cold Springs Rd. in Placerville, CA. This cemetery has been in operation since 1949 and is run by Destination Destiny, a green burial organization we are partnering with to establish additional Jizo grieving sites. This initial site in El Dorado County California includes a beautiful meadow for natural green burials and an Asian Garden with lovely elements that are the perfect home for our first Jizo monument and grieving area.

The public is invited to visit during cemetery hours, to sit, meditate, grieve, and remember. The beautiful stone Jizo sculpture centerpiece donated by Dr. Patricia Danaher was handmade by Indonesian artists and is the first large one of its kind in public in the United States. We are sure it will not be the last!