Graveyard

The Japanese have been buried in the graveyard. However, they used to have no customs to visit there and pray for their ancestors because of their ideas toward soul. Soul stays with the human body. If someone dies, his soul leaves the body for heaven or hell. The soulless body is not regarded as a human being anymore, and therefore people did not respect it at all. Graveyard was where they hide the dead from their sight. Until the end of Edo period, they had buried the dead. As the number of population grew, they needed to save the space. As a result, they started cremating the dead.

Most graveyards are managed by the local government. Some are located in the backyard of temples and churches, and are managed by them. There are a few tombstones with individual names in Japan. In most cases, the dead is buried with other family members. Each family owns a grave. They store ashes and bones of the dead under tombstone of family. Graveyard is often a quiet place even in the center of Tokyo. People maintain the graveyard quiet because they want the dead to stay there peacefully. It is regarded rude to make noise there.


The shape of tombstones varies. While most of them follow the certain shape, there are some Christian tombs with cross-shaped tombstones and some others with unique shapes. Many tombstones have the name of the family as well as kamon (family crest). People visit there, and offer flowers and incense.


The Japanese love stories related to ghost in the graveyard. Kids love those stories in particular, and sometimes create them by themselves. Some have seen ghost flying late at night while some others see the dead walking around the graveyard. Whether they are true or not, you can hear those stories everywhere in Japan because the graveyard is always quiet and sacred place.