Grave Mound

In Japanese funerary custom, it is considered important for the family of a deceased person to continue to tend their grave and make offerings there. However, this is not always possible - for example, if a person dies with no living relatives to mourn them, or in the aftermath of a disaster where remains cannot be identified. The gravestones of such individuals are collected together in mounds called "muenzuka" (無縁塚, "without-relations mound"). These graves are tended en masse by the local community, and memorial services are held to honour the dead.

Fatal Frame Series

• Remaining of Minakami Village in Fatal Frame II were enshrined together in the Old Tree, rather than in Minakami Cemetery with the other villagers.
• In Fatal Frame III, the Shrine Carpenters were honoured with a grave mound in the Grave Courtyard.
• There is a large grave mound in the backyard of Haibara Infirmary, possibly a memorial for Moonlight Syndrome patients who died there.
• In Fatal Frame V, failed bridegrooms were enshrined in a large grave mound on the eastern side of the Forbidden Valley, near the path to the House of Joining.

Japanese Culture
Religion
Buddhism - Shinto
Japanese Ghosts/Creatures
Funayūrei - Goryō - Hitodama - Ikiryō - Onryō - Ubume - Yōkai - Yūrei
Specific Japanese Ghosts/Creatures
Oiwa - Okiku - Yuki-onna
Terms
Dosojin - Grave Mound - Hannya Mask - Higanbana - Jizo - Kaidan - Miko - Mukoyōshi - Sanzu River - Shimenawa - Toro-Nagashi - Wara Ningyo
Locations
Northeastern Japan - Shizuoka - Sugisawa Village - Tono
Media and Entertainment
Kagome, Kagome - Ringu