Japanese Cemetery was founded in 1901 and is located at 1300 Hillside Boulevard in

Colma, California Colma (Ohlone for "Springs") is a small incorporated List of municipalities in California, town in San Mateo County, California, United States, on the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 1,507 at the 2020 U ...

. This cemetery has brought together the Japanese community in California and has worked with

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

Shinto , also called Shintoism, is a religion originating in Japan. Classified as an East Asian religions, East Asian religion by Religious studies, scholars of religion, it is often regarded by its practitioners as Japan's indigenous religion and as ...

, and

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

religious organizations.

History

In the beginning of the 20th century, most Japanese living in San Francisco were buried in either the Masonic Cemetery or the

Laurel Hill Cemetery Laurel Hill Cemetery, also called Laurel Hill East to distinguish it from the affiliated West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, Bala Cynwyd, is a historic rural cemetery in the East Falls, Philadelphia, East Falls neighborhood ...

(formerly Lone Hill Cemetery), in the Lone Mountain neighborhood. In 1901, all new burials were forbidden in the city of San Francisco due to a law change. In 1901, the Jikei-kai Japanese Benevolent Society of California purchased of land in Colma to create a cemetery, and some graves from Laurel Hill and Masonic Cemeteries in San Francisco were moved here. On March 17, 1903,

Jōdo Shinshū , also known as Shin Buddhism or True Pure Land Buddhism, is a school of Pure Land Buddhism founded by the former Tendai Japanese monk Shinran. Shin Buddhism is the most widely practiced branch of Buddhism in Japan. History Shinran (founder) S ...

cleric Rev. Nishijima Kakyuro officiated the opening ceremony for the cemetery. In 1906, the

Meiji-era The was an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization b ...

Emperor of Japan The emperor of Japan is the hereditary monarch and head of state of Japan. The emperor is defined by the Constitution of Japan as the symbol of the Japanese state and the unity of the Japanese people, his position deriving from "the will of ...

provided a grant to help bury Japanese in California. The site lacks the extensive landscaping typical of the other park-like cemeteries in Colma; most paths are paved with concrete or gravel, and a traditional

Japanese garden are traditional gardens whose designs are accompanied by Japanese aesthetics and philosophical ideas, avoid artificial ornamentation, and highlight the natural landscape. Plants and worn, aged materials are generally used by Japanese garden desig ...

lies just outside the entrance of the

columbarium A columbarium (; pl. columbaria), also called a cinerarium, is a structure for the reverential and usually public storage of funerary urns holding cremated remains of the dead. The term comes from the Latin ''columba'' (dove) and originally solel ...

Notable burials

The oldest graves appear to be from 1860 from the three crew members of the

Japanese warship Kanrin Maru was Japan's first sail and screw-driven steam corvette (the first steam-driven Japanese warship, '' Kankō Maru'', was a side-wheeler). She was ordered in 1853 from the Netherlands, the only Western country with which Japan had diplomatic re ...

, which pre-dates the founding Japanese Cemetery of Colma. In 1860, these three Japanese sailors aboard the ''Kanrin Maru'' died during the first

Japanese Embassy to the United States The was dispatched in 1860 by the Tokugawa shogunate (bakufu). Its objective was to ratify the new Treaty of Friendship, Commerce, and Navigation between the United States and Japan, in addition to being Japan's first diplomatic mission to the ...

. The sailors had been buried at the Marine Hospital Cemetery (which closed in 1870) in San Francisco, then later transferred to Laurel Hill Cemetery, followed by a move to the Japanese Cemetery in Colma. *

Kyutaro Abiko was a Japanese-born American businessman and newspaper editor. Childhood Abiko was born in 1865 in Suibara, Niigata prefecture, Japan. He was raised by his maternal grandparents after the death of his mother. He worked as a youngster in the f ...

(1865–1936), Japanese-born American businessman and newspaper editor; founder of ''

Nichi Bei Times The ''Nichi Bei Times'' (日米タイムズ ''Nichi Bei Taimuzu'') is a Japanese American news agency operated by the Nichi Bei Foundation and headquartered in San Francisco. As of 2009 it was the oldest Japanese American newspaper in Northern Cal ...

.'' *

Makoto Hagiwara (15 August 1854 – 12 September 1925) was a Japanese-born American landscape designer responsible for the maintenance and expansion of the Japanese Tea Garden at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California, from 1895 until his death in 1925. H ...

(1854–1925),

landscape designer Landscape design is an independent profession and a design and art tradition, practiced by landscape designers, combining nature and culture. In contemporary practice, landscape design bridges the space between landscape architecture and garde ...

and longtime manager of the Japanese tea garden at Golden Gate Park. * (1863–1914), politician, pastor, and educator; sent to alleviate the anti-Japanese sentiment. *Keisaburo Koda (1882–1964), businessperson, rice farmer, founder of Koda Farms. *

George Shima George Shima (1864 – March 27, 1926) was a Japanese American businessman in California who became the first Japanese American millionaire. At one point, he produced about 85% of the state's potato crop, which earned him the nickname "The Potato ...

(1864–1926), businessperson, potato farmer, the first Japanese American millionaire.

References

{{Authority control Cemeteries in San Mateo County, California Colma, California History of San Mateo County, California Cemeteries established in the 1900s Japanese-American culture in California Japanese-American history 1901 establishments in California

History

Notable burials

See also

References