Materials and forms of wooden coffins of the Edo period excavated from the Sugen-ji and Shoken-ji sites, Shinjuku, Tokyo

Abstract

We analysed 902 coffin boards of 257 tub-shaped and 178 box-shaped wooden coffins used in the graveyards for commoners at the Sugen-ji and Shoken-ji sites, Tokyo, and discussed the influence of the social hierarchy and the shortage in timber resources on timber usage in Edo during the early modern Edo period. Tubshaped and box-shaped coffins were mainly made of Cryptomeria japonica and of Abies and Pinus densiflora, respectively, different to the coffins of the Shogun and Daimyo families. During the second half of the 17th century to the early 18th century, tub-shaped coffins at both graveyards were mostly made of taxa probably brought from natural forests along the Kiso and Tenryu valleys, such as Thujopsis dolabrata. In later periods, they were made of taxa grown in surrounding mountains of Edo. Boards of tub-shaped coffins were equally thick or became thicker in later ages, not reflecting the scarcity of timber resources. These trends seem to have resulted from the strengthened forest regulations after depletion of natural forests throughout Japan during the 17th century, the extensive plantation of Cryptomeria japonica started at the beginning of the 18th century, and the establishment of a local commercial system in the vicinity of Edo in later periods.