Nanzan Cemetery

A tree-filled cemetery at Minamiyama Yasuragi Cemetery in Toyota City planned for 2021.

We planned to convert the cemetery into a tree-filled cemetery due to the increasing number of plots and returned cemeteries that could not be sold in the first place for general graves. The plan was to increase the number of island-like green spaces like an amoeba to accommodate the worm-eaten vacant sections. In the “graves that return to nature” proposed at Goshikidai Memorial Park and the Inagawa Cemetery’s tree-filled cemetery, no calotte is installed; instead, powdered remains are placed in hemp cloth and buried directly in the ground. The remains are biodegraded by microorganisms in the soil and turned into soil, which is then absorbed as nutrients by the surrounding trees, allowing the remains to “return to nature. Trees planted as grave markers grow, blooming, dropping their leaves, blooming again, and so on, and the souls of those buried in the ground coexist with this natural cycle.

This “back-to-nature grave” can be sought by individuals rather than by families, and is an option for childless couples, lifelong singles, and those with children who do not want to “take care of the grave after death. After the bones are buried, absorbed by the trees and returned to nature (after 32 years), this forest will continue to receive the souls of the next generation, providing new nutrients necessary for the forest to grow and protect the sustainable cycle of nature.