A connection to support each other: collective graves and activist deathwork in San’ya, Tokyo

This paper explores deathwork in Tokyo’s San’ya district, formerly known as one of Japan’s major yoseba (day-labour market) and now as a welfare neighbourhood. It examines the establishment of multi-faith, non-profit collective graves hosted by a Pure Land temple, serving primarily, but not exclusively, rough sleepers and socially disconnected individuals. Supported by a network of local organisations and volunteers, these graves are accompanied by memorial rituals that aim to foster a reciprocal connection, both material and spiritual, between the living and the dead. Central to this work is the concept of shien, which combines the idea of support with the Buddhist notion of en, a bond or karmic connection. By conceptualising this form of deathwork as a neighbourhood-based project, the paper highlights the importance of collective and activist deathwork in fostering connections based on mutual interdependence. Furthermore, it argues that communal graves in San’ya serve as necromaterial infrastructures of care, re-membering the deceased as members of an intentional, interdependent community and thus transcending conventional, family-based memorialisation.