Mizuko kuyō

Mizuko kuyō (水子供養) meaning "water child memorial service",[1] is a Japanese Buddhist ceremony for those who have had a miscarriage, stillbirth, or abortion.

Reasons for the performance of these rites can include parental grief, desire to comfort the soul of the fetus, guilt for an abortion, or even fear of retribution from a vengeful ghost.

[2][page needed] The mizuko kuyō, typically performed by Buddhist priests,[3]: 65  was used to make offerings to Jizō, a bodhisattva who is believed to protect children.

In the Edo period, when famine sometimes led the poverty-stricken to infanticide and abortion, the practice was adapted to cover these situations as well.

[3]: 74  Though the service varies, common aspects resemble the ceremony for the recent dead, the senzo kuyō (先祖供養).