Mismatch Between Cemetery Forms and Social Structure
In many urban Japanese temples, attached cemeteries often occupy a larger area than the temple precinct itself, encroaching upon its sacred space. Within the neatly arranged plots, blank patches from grave closures create a mottled appearance. Local regulations require cemeteries to be enclosed by long walls, which can exert a sense of pressure on the streetscape. Despite rising annual deaths in Japan, projected to reach 1.6 million by 2040, mismatches between the traditional Edo-period temple–parishioner system and modern social realities—smaller households, declining ancestral worship, and demographic shifts—have produced these landscapes and revealed a breakdown in the system. The project aims to provide a burial facility that aligns with contemporary social and familial structures while preserving temple sanctity and contributing positively to the streetscape.
Layout Planning Using Polygonal Tessellation
Available land at urban temples is limited. At Shōfuku-ji in Sumida Ward, about 100 m² of parking space needed to accommodate 461 tree-burial plots. A basic tree burial consists of a grave marker in front and a commemorative tree behind, forming a circle around the tree. The circle diameter was set at 800 mm to accommodate a 2-meter tree rootball. Surrounding gravestones made from roughly 200 mm natural stones were arranged in three rows—the limit for readability—forming a 2300 mm “island” including the fence. The islands were packed densely while maintaining 1-meter pathways as required. Mathematics shows that regular hexagons minimize perimeter when tiling a plane. Placing the islands on a hexagonal grid maximized plot numbers and minimized pathways. Peripheral cape-like areas were also used as plots. Flower and incense stands are staggered to prevent visitors from facing one another back-to-back.
A Stroll Garden as a Key Element of Temples
Traditional temples create depth and maintain sacredness through layered layouts of buildings, gardens, paths, gates, and ornaments. In urban temples, shrinking grounds and expanding cemeteries challenge this. Therefore, Graveyard『Sōbon』was designed as a stroll garden attached to the temple precinct. Moss-covered stepping stones and stone pillars bound with rope mark the precinct–burial boundary. A sekimori-ishi stone, tied crosswise with palm rope, separates the “living” world above from the “dead” world below in the burial chamber, creating layered boundaries. Fences around each island are made of shigaramitake bamboo, whose flexibility allows for continual maintenance; newly green bamboo appears intermittently, so the cemetery is never the same at any moment.
Evoking the Atmosphere of Edo in the Urban Streetscape
Shōfuku-ji lies in an area once called Edomae, with a few remnants of traditional buildings. Tea gardens with Kenjinji-style fences and sekimori-ishi stones likely dotted the townscape. By incorporating fragments of Edo-period aesthetics into the tree-burial landscape, the project avoids enclosing the cemetery with plain walls, allowing it to participate in the streetscape as an expression of wabi-sabi and Edo cultural refinement. Passersby seeing trees rising above a Kenjinji-style fence would never imagine it is a cemetery.
Team:
Architects: LOVE ARCHITECTURE INC.
Photographer: Masao Nishikawa
Materials Used:
Barrier:Half-split bamboo with palm-fiber rope
Approach paving: Stepping-stone path
Gate: Hexagonal stone posts tied with palm-fiber rope
Enclosure: Shigaramitake bamboo lattice mounted on steel retaining plates with wooden stakes
Gravemarker: Fieldstone bound with palm-fiber rope
Ground surface: Exposed aggregate permeable paving using natural stone
