Ossuary in Hino Cemetery Park

Yokohama, Japan

Photo © Kawasumi Kobayashi Kenji Photograph Office

Drawing © STGK Inc.

Landscape Architects: STGK Inc. | studio gen kumagai

Location: Yokohama, Japan
Year: 2018
Client: ‎Yokohama City
Architect: Contemporaries
Planting design: TREEFORTE

Seven gardens that add seasonality to paying respects

The ossuary built adjacent to Hino Park Cemetery, which boasts one of the most abundant greenery in Yokohama City. At every moment you spend at the ossuary, from entrance through reception, and to saying your prayers, the gardens of various shapes and sizes are there to remind you of the four seasons. We undertook the landscape design of the ossuary including these gardens.

Based on the concept of “adding seasonality to paying respects,” only one kind of tree is used per garden. The trees used are those with ties to Yokohama, such as “Yokohama-hizakura” cherry trees (created by a horticulturist in Yokohama), “Yamomomiji” acer trees (tree of the Yokohama Tsuzuki ward) and flowering dogwood (tree of the Yokohama Kohoku ward). The paving stones and gravel used in the gardens are of the same type, but the stones in each of the seven gardens has a different surface finish and size. Through these gardens, visiting the ossuary will engrave the “feel of the season” to the memorial experience. The louvered fence made of several hundred aluminum plates that surround the entire site will make the worship experience even more memorable as they diffuse and redirect the light differently as you move around, while providing privacy suitable to a place of prayer. By carefully layering small variations in the landscape design, in the plants, the light, and different finishes to the materials, we aimed to bring out the sense of the season and provide a unique experience for visitors of the Hino Cemetery Park Ossuary.