Zōshigaya Cemetery

The cemetery is nonsectarian, and contains the graves of many famous people in its 10 ha area.

Zōshigaya Cemetery was founded by the local government of Tokyo Prefecture in 1874 as a public graveyard following the policy of the new government of the Meiji period, which prohibited burial in the central part of Tokyo.

The local government of Tokyo prefecture established six cemeteries including Zōshigaya.

In 1876, the administration of the cemetery were taken into care by the prefectural government, and then by the Tokyo Metropolitan Park Association in 1985.

Among those interred here are (Japanese surnames are in capital letters): Before Natsume Sōseki himself was buried in Zōshigaya Cemetery, he selected the cemetery as the final resting place for the friend of the Sensei in the novel Kokoro (1914).