Over 900 graves closed in Japan's Noto quake area

The pace of applications is 2.5 times the predisaster level in the four Okunoto municipalities in Ishikawa Prefecture. Many cases involve reburial outside Okunoto, indicating that many people have found it difficult to maintain their family graves there amid an ongoing population outflow.

Applications for reburial permission are submitted to local governments when graves are removed and relocated to other sites or charnel houses.

Over the 20 months from April 2024 through November 2025, 965 such applications were submitted to the four Okunoto municipalities, namely 199 to the city of Wajima, 231 to the city of Suzu, 70 to the town of Anamizu and 465 to the town of Noto.

In the four municipalities, the number of applications averaged about 48 per month, more than double the level of about 19 for the year through March 2024.

According to the Wajima government, about 65 pct of those who closed their graves in the city chose other municipalities for reburial during the 20-month period.

In Noto, the percentage of those who chose reburial sites outside the town stood at about 45 pct.

In areas hit hard by the temblor two years ago, many graves that collapsed due to the disaster remain unrepaired, covered with blue tarps.

"Some people stopped visiting their family graves after the quake, so I don't know if they plan to restore them," said the chief priest of a Buddhist temple in Noto.

At Busshoji Temple in Wajima, more than a dozen families of followers decided to close their graves after the quake.

Many people have already moved out of the city, leaving chief priest Masanori Tachibana concerned.

"Once graves disappear, you'll lose the opportunity to visit them. You just stop going back to the places where you were born," Tachibana said.

As it has become difficult to maintain graves, many people prefer to rebury remains in joint graves managed by local governments.

Applications for burial in municipal shared graves in Wajima have surged to about five times the previous pace since the temblor.

In Noto, which also plans to start communal burial, Mayor Yoshinori Yoshida said: "Without shared burial, more local graves will be lost. We need a place where we can hold a memorial service with peace of mind for residents who grew up here and want their ancestors and themselves to rest here."