In the folk tale Kasa Jizō, a poor old man cannot sell his straw hats in town on New Year’s Eve. On the way home through a snowstorm, he sees six Jizō statues and puts the unsold hats on them. There are only five hats, so he takes off his own hat and puts it on the last statue.
On the morning of New Year’s Day, the old couple find rice bales piled up at their house, full of New Year decorations, rice cakes, fish and other food. A parenting site calls it a folk tale that everyone knows, and notes that many elementary schools still use it in Japanese lessons.