Establishment of the Family Columbaria Grave as the Grave System of Tokyo after the Great Kantō Earthquake

Abstract

This paper concerns the practice of “Family Columbaria Grave” in contemporary Japan. These grave units consist of a grave marker and a narrow box containing cremated remains, owned by and inherited within a single family. I investigated the implementation of and public reaction to Family Columbaria Grave, focusing my research on post-Meiji period Tokyo where the practice was pioneered. Due to rapid urbanization and fallout from the Great Kantō Earthquake of 1923, Tokyo saw a shortage of graves and an increase of neglected graves. City planners solved these problems by introducing the “Family Columbaria Grave” as the burial system in Tokyo, as it would implement space-saving, low-costs, hygiene, and mobility. Following this implementation, this practice rapidly became well established. People built these graves to affirm the importance of familial ties, and hoped to leave them as family property until a descendant generation. Public reception was positive, as the practice was seen as a natural extension of traditional Japanese values and “Japanese familiar spirits.” Therefore, the “Family Columbaria Grave” was, unlike graves from the Edo period onward, an invented tradition of the Showa era that was strongly tinged with the character of the modern city.