Yanaka Cemetery, with Tennō-ji

photo by Gustave67 · CC BY-SA 4.0

photo by Ka23_13 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Opened in 1874, about 7,000 graves: the last shogun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu, rests here.

The central avenue, lined with cherry trees, cuts in two the largest public cemetery in Tokyo by number of burials: about 7,000 graves over 10 hectares, many marked by sotoba, the upright wooden boards written by hand that Buddhist tradition sets beside the gravestone. Among the graves lie the last shōgun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu, buried with Shinto rites at his own wish, and the industrialist Shibusawa Eiichi, the face printed on the current 10,000 yen note.

The cemetery opened in 1874 on part of the land that belonged to Tennō-ji temple, founded in 1274 and separated from the cemetery in the Meiji era: today the temple keeps a large seated bronze Buddha and a small garden, and is one of Yanaka's seven temples of good fortune. The cemetery is now managed by the Tokyo Parks Association through the ‘谷中霊園管理所’ office, and occupies the whole of the seventh chōme of Yanaka.

ℹ️ The cemetery is a public area, always accessible, with no stated opening or closing hours for the grounds. The management office (for maps and information) is open 8:30–17:30 (paperwork until 16:30), closed from 29 December to 3 January. No ticket. ⚠️ Reviews point to the cherry-tree avenue as a hanami spot in spring.

🚉 Nippori · 6 min walk

Sources: tokyo-park.or.jp · ja.wikipedia.org

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