Hirayama, Japan "Mother and Child Statue of Red Boots"
Kimi Iwasaki, a girl with red shoes, was born in Fujimi Village, Shizuoka Prefecture (now Miyakasan, Shimizu Ward, Shizuoka City) at the foot of Nihondaira.
When she was two years old, Kayo and her mother moved to Hakodate, Hokkaido, but Kayo decided that it was impossible to accompany Kimi-chan to a tough life, so she was entrusted to an American teacher and his wife. The pastor and his wife planned to take Kimi-chan home, but Kimi-chan was unable to go to the United States because of an incurable disease, and died at the age of 9 in an orphanage in Azabu, Tokyo.
Kayo died without knowing Kimi-chan's death, and the poem of the children's song "Red Shoes" was written by Ujo Noguchi based on a story from Kayo who thought Kimi-chan went to the United States.
Around June 1985, Kimi-chan and Kayo's mother and child were sent back to their hometown, Shimizu, and the spirit of entrusting the eternal peace of the mother and child to the "mother and child image" was raised, and the public and private sectors united to develop a fund-raising campaign nationwide.
On March 31, 1986, a "mother and child statue" was erected in a corner of the summit of Nihondaira overlooking the place of birth, and it has become a sightseeing spot of Nihondaira.
