Yanaka Cemetery

• Established: 1874/9/1
• Japanese: 谷中霊園 (Yanaka reien), 谷中墓地 (Yanaka bochi)

Yanaka Cemetery, located in the Ueno/Nippori area, is one of the most prominent cemeteries in Tokyo. Associated primarily with the neighboring Yanaka Tennô-ji, it contains the graves of over 75 prominent historical figures of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including those of Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu, and numerous daimyô, artists, writers, actors, scholars, and statesmen.

Established as "Yanaka Graveyard" (Yanaka bochi) in 1874, the cemetery came to be administered by the City of Tokyo in 1899, and was then renamed "Yanaka Cemetery" (Yanaka reien) in 1935. Though most closely associated with Yanaka Tennô-ji, and containing the former site of that temple's pagoda within its grounds, the cemetery also contains many graves formally associated with several other temples, chief among them Kan'ei-ji, including large sections of Tokugawa clan graves. The cemetery is also famous for its cherry trees, which line the main path through the grounds.

Famous Burials

• Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu (1837-1913)
• Akai Kageaki (1859-1885), Freedom and People's Rights Movement activist
• Asada Sôhaku (1815-1894), Confucian scholar & Chinese herbal medicine specialist
• Date Munenari (1818-1892), lord of Uwajima han
• Ezaki Reiji (1855-1910), photographer
• Fukuchi Ôchi (1841-1906), aka Fukuchi Gen'ichirô, playwright and critic
• Hasegawa Kazuo (1908-1984), film actor
• Hatoyama Ichirô (1883-1959), former Prime Minister
• Inoue Randai (1705-1761), Confucian scholar
• Grave of four executed for plotting the 1884 Kabasan Incident
• Kaburaki Kiyotaka (1878-1972), Nihonga artist
• Kawakami Otojirô (1864-1911), playwright
• Kawakami Tôgai (1827-1881), yôga painter
• Kikuchi Yôsai (1788-1878), Nihonga artist
• Konakamura Kiyonori (1821-1895), kokugaku scholar
• Matsuda Hideo (1851-1906), first mayor of Tokyo
• Graves of Matsudaira clan lords of Takamatsu han
• Matsuura Sayôhiko (1865-1884), assistant to Edward Sylvester Morse
• Mizuno Toshikata (1866-1908), Nihonga artist
• Matsudaira Shûhei (1825-1886), Rangaku scholar
• Murata Tsuneyoshi (1838-1921), inventor of the Murata rifle
• Nakamura Nakazô III (1809-1886), kabuki actor
• Nanma Uhô (1822-1909), kokugaku scholar
• Odaira Namihei (1874-1951), founder of Hitachi
• Ôhara Shigetomi (1801-1879), court noble
• Ono Azusa (1852-1886), politician
• Saint Nicholas (1836-1912) of the Greek Orthodox Church
• Graves of Sakai clan lords of Himeji han
• Sakatani Yoshirô (1863-1941), Minister of Finance & Mayor of Tokyo
• Sasaki Nobutsuna (1872-1963), poet & kokugaku scholar
• Satô Taizen (1804-1872), Rangaku scholar, founder of Juntendô
• Satô Takanaka (1827-1882), physician, adopted son of Satô Taizen
• Sawada Shôjirô (1892-1929), actor
• Shibusawa Eiichi (1840-1931), father of Japanese capitalism
• Takahashi Oden (1850-1879), famous murderer
• Tamano Yofumi (1825-1886), first Supreme Court Chief
• Tsuda Mamichi (1829-1903), legal scholar & politician
• Washizu Kidô (1825-1882), kangaku scholar
• Yoda Gakkai (1833-1909), kangaku scholar
• Yokoyama Taikan (1868-1958), Nihonga painter

References

• Pamphlets available on-site.

External Links

• Yanaka Cemetery on Google Maps