THE CHILD-GIVING GINKGO 

GINKGO (Ginkgo biloba)

Zoshigaya Kishimojin-do Temple, Tokyo, Japan 

Zoshigaya Kishimojin-do is a Buddhist temple in Tokyo, Japan, that was founded in 1578. Kishimojin, to whom the temple is dedicated, is the goddess of safe birth and child rearing. The grounds are home to one of the largest ginkgo trees in Tokyo: the child-giving ginkgo. Estimated to be more than seven hundred years old, the tree is said to grant fertility and easy childbearing to women who worship Kishimojin, as well as protection for their children. 

Kishimojin was not always known for her benevolence. Mother to thousands of children, Kishimojin would abduct the children of others and feed them to her own. The grieving mothers begged the Buddha for his help. In order to teach the goddess a lesson, the Buddha abducted her youngest child, hiding the boy under a rice bowl. After searching across the universe for her missing child, a distraught Kishimojin appealed to the Buddha for aid. When he pointed out how much suffering she had caused other mothers, many of whom had lost their only children whereas she had lost only one of thousands, Kishimojin vowed henceforth to devote herself to protecting children.

Ginkgo trees are dioecious, which means some are male and some are female. Male ginkgos produce small pollen grains, while female trees, once fertilized, produce seeds that emit a pungent odor when they fall to the ground. Although the goddess embodied by the child-giving ginkgo at Zoshigaya Kishimojin-do Temple is female, the tree itself is male.