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Zōshigaya cemetery (雑司ヶ谷霊園, Zōshigaya Reien) is a public cemetery in Minami-Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku, Tokyo, founded by the Tokyo Metropolitan government.

The name Zōshigaya comes from the old name of the region. The cemetery welcomes people from any religion, and it has the graves of Natsume Soseki, Lafcadio Hearn, Kyōka Izumi, Yumeji Takehisa, Hideki Tojo and Nakahama Manjiro among others in its 10ha area. It is taken care by Tokyo Metropolitan Park Association.

History

Zōshigaya cemetery was founded by the local government of Tokyo prefecture in 1874 as a public graveyard following the policy of the new government of Meiji, which prohibited burial in the central part of Tokyo and cremation in 1873 and designated 9 sites for new public graveyards in 1874. The local government of Tokyo prefecture established 6 cemeteries including Zōshigaya. Its construction and administration works were entrusted to the Tokyo Chamber (the Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry of today). In 1876, the administration works of the cemetery were taken into care by the Tokyo prefecture, and then by the Tokyo Metropolitan Park Association since 1985.

The name of the cemetery at first was Zōshigaya-Asahide-cho?(-machi?) bochi (雑司ヶ谷旭出町墓地), Zōshigaya-Asahide was the name of the town it resides, and changed to Zōshigaya rei-en (雑司ヶ谷霊園) in 1935.

See also

• Aoyama, Tokyo#Aoyama municipal cemetery

References

• The history of Zōshigaya cemetery by Tokyo Metropolitan Park Association (Japanese)
• About Zōshigaya cemetery by Tokyo Metropolitan Park Association (Japanese)
• History of Tokyo City (東京市史稿 市街篇) (Japanese)

External links

• The page on Zōshigaya cemetery by Tokyo Metropolitan Park Association (Japanese)
• Tokyo Metropolitan Park Association