Aoyama Cemetery

Aoyama Cemetery (Japanese: , Hepburn: Aoyama reien) is a cemetery in Aoyama, Tokyo, Japan, managed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. The cemetery is known for its cherry blossoms and is popular during the season of hanami.

The cemetery was originally the land of the Aoyama family of the Gujō clan (now Gujō, Gifu) in the province of Mino (now Gifu). Japan's first public cemetery was opened in 1874, and in the Meiji era was the main locations of foreigners' graves. The cemetery has an area of 263,564 m2.

The Japanese section includes the graves of many notable Japanese, including:

Hachikō, buried with his owner Hidesaburō Ueno Amino Kiku - novelist Gotō Shōjirō - samurai and politician Ichikawa Danjūrō IX - actor Ichikawa Danjūrō XI - actor Kitasato Shibasaburō - physician and bacteriologist Misao Fujimura - writer Nakae Chōmin - politician Ijichi Masaharu - samurai of the Shimazu clan Nogi Maresuke - governor-general of Japanese Taiwan, general of the Imperial Japanese Army Ōkubo Toshimichi - statesman and samurai Otoya Yamaguchi - right-wing ultranationalist youth who assassinated Japanese Socialist Party chairman Inejirō Asanuma Sasaki Takayuki - politician Shiga Naoya - writer Doppo Kunikida - writer Shinichi Hoshi - writer Nishi Takeichi - IJA officer and 1932 Olympic equestrian gold medalist Kuroda Kiyotaka - Prime Minister of Japan (1888–1899) Katō Tomosaburō - Prime Minister of Japan (1922–1923) Yamamoto Gonnohyōe - Imperial Japanese Navy Admiral and Prime Minister of Japan (1913–1914, 1923–1924) Osachi Hamaguchi - Prime Minister of Japan (1929–1931) Inukai Tsuyoshi - Prime Minister of Japan (1931–1932) Kuniaki Koiso - Prime Minister of Japan (1944–1945) Shigeru Yoshida - Prime Minister of Japan (1946–1947, 1948–1954) Nabeshima Naohiro - 11th daimyō of Saga Domain Shinjiro Yamamoto - Imperial Japanese Navy admiral Ijuin Gorō - Imperial Japanese Navy admiral Takashima Tomonosuke - politician, Imperial Japanese Army general, and samurai of the Satsuma Domain Kawakami Soroku - Imperial Japanese Army general Nozu Michitsura - Imperial Japanese Army field marshal Sano Tsunetami - statesman and founder of the Japanese Red Cross Society Bunzō Hayata - botanist and taxonomist Kokichi Mikimoto - entrepreneur and inventor of cultured pearls Keiji Sada - actor Kadono Jūkurō - businessman, railway engineer, and chairman of Ōkura Gumi (1914–1937) Nagaoka Gaishi - Imperial Japanese Army officer

The cemetery also has a Tateyama branch, where Nagata Tetsuzan, Kimura Heitarō, and Sagara Sōzō are buried. The famous city pop singer Miki Matsubara is also buried in the cemetery, although the exact location remains currently undisclosed.

One of the cemetery's most famous graves is that of Hachikō, the faithful and dutiful dog whose statue adorns Shibuya Station. He was buried alongside his two owners, Hidesaburō Ueno and Yaeko Sakano.

The cemetery includes a gaikokujin bochi (foreign cemetery), one of the few such plots in Tokyo. Many of the graves are of foreign experts who came to Japan at the end of the 19th century, as part of the Meiji Government's drive for modernisation. Although some of the graves were threatened with removal in 2005 due to unpaid annual fees, the Foreign Section was awarded special protection in 2007. A plaque on the site recognises the men and women who contributed to Japan's modernization. Some of the noted foreigners buried within the cemetery:

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