Japanese Graves in the Hong Kong Cemetery

The Memorial to Ten Thousand Souls,
which was unveiled on 26 February 1919.

Officially opened in 1845, the Hong Kong Cemetery currently contains over 7,000 recorded graves, of which approximately 470 are connected to Hong Kong’s Japanese community. Around 80% of the Japanese graves are those of civilians who died during the Meiji era (1868-1912), a remarkable period of modernisation and opening up of Japan. They include the final resting places of merchants, company representatives and their family members, karayuki-san, and sailors and students passing through. The focal point of the Japanese section of the Cemetery is a grand monument dedicated to the victims of the February 26, 1918, Happy Valley Racecourse fire. The calligraphic inscription on the front of the obelisk is the work of ŌTANI Kōzui, the 22nd Abbot of Nishi Hongwanji in Kyoto.

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  * About the Project
  * Japanese Graves in the Hong Kong Cemetery, 1878-1918

Selected Graves & Memorial
1. YUKAWA Onsaku, died 5 August 1878, aged 22
2. HONDA Masajirō, died 2 November 1880, aged 35
3. KIYA Saki, died 8 June 1884, aged 30
4. FUKUHARA Kayo, died 28 May 1892, aged 5 months
5. HIROTA Kōkichi, died 30 July 1900, aged 29
6. HORII Yasaburō, died 20 June 1904, aged 25
7. TERUMINE Hirokichi, died 28 March 1908, aged 33
8. MATSUBARA Jisaburō, died 7 March 1918, aged 54
9. Memorial to Ten Thousand Souls, Unveiled 26 February 1919