ABSTRACT
Tree-Burial (jumokusō 樹木葬) was established in 1999 by Chisaka Genpō, the head priest of a Buddhist temple located in Ichinoseki, a city of the Tōhoku region, northern Japan. Its revenues, like those of most temples, are acquired from the management of a customary gravestone cemetery located on the temple grounds, and the performance of funerary rites and other religious services. For the creation of Tree-Burial, however, Chisaka Genpō established a new sub-temple in the countryside, professing that the nature and aims of Tree-Burial are based on the rehabilitation and protection of Japan's natural environment and as such, are fundamentally at odds with a customary cemetery.
