San Diego, California

Japanese Kamon: According to Encyclopedia Japan, in Japan kamon are "seen widely on stores and shops engaged in traditional crafts and specialties. They are favored by sushi restaurants, which often incorporate a Kamon into their logos." The Mitsubishi logo originated as a kamon. Mount Hope Cemetery. [2020]

San Diego, California

Japanese Kamon: According to Encyclopedia Japan, "during the peaceful, tranquil, rather uneventful, Edo Period, there were few hard battles fought among samurai so, the former practical role of Kamon, such as distinguishing friend from foe in battle, had changed to be a kind of symbol of authority." Mount Hope Cemetery. [2020]

San Diego, California

Japanese Kamon: According to Encyclopedia Japan, "there are more than 20,000 distinct individual Kamon in Japan. Long an integral part of Japanese culture, these emblems were formerly in widespread use to mark people’s clothes, possessions and even buildings. graves, furniture, and ships." Mount Hope Cemetery. [2020]

San Diego, California

Japanese Kamon: According to Encyclopedia Japan, a kamon "was created to serve as an unique emblem that represented a family's identity, clearly revealing the family name of its owner. Later, Buke (samurai warriors) and Kuge (the nobility) made use of Kamon, which are classified into some groups according to blood line or historical origin." Note how similar, yet different, are the Owashi and Tsujino kamons. Mount Hope Cemetery. [2020]

San Diego, California

Japanese Kamon: According to Encyclopedia Japan, a kamon "refers to a crest used in Japan to indicate one's origins; that is, one's family lineage, blood line, ancestry and status from ancient times. It is also referred to simply as 'Mondokoro' or 'Mon'."  (No, it's not the swordfish; it's the petaled flower.) Mount Hope Cemetery. [2020]

San Diego, California

Unicorns on Parade:  Anecdotal evidence suggests that the unicorns that congregate in cemeteries are found mostly on female gravestones. Here is an exception. We shouldn't be surprised because art historians tell us that most unicorns are male. Mount Hope Cemetery. [2020]

San Diego, California

Communities of Difference Share a Final Resting Place:  The hieroglyphic alphabet of the ancient Egyptians is hard to find in American cemeteries, but here in the land of diversity-on-steroids it comfortably adds to our list: Armenian, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Vietnamese, Russian, English, Japanese, Persian, and now ancient Egyptian! Remember all of these alphabets are within sight-distance of each other in a single cemetery. What glyphs do you recognize? There's an ankh and a scarab beetle outside the cartouche. Inside the cartouche may be the deceased's name. If so, it seems to be presented as a royal name, indicated by the tangent vertical line. When you are traipsing around cemeteries, always be prepared for some fun! Mount Hope Cemetery. [2020]

San Diego, California

Communities of Difference Share a Final Resting Place:  The last name (which ends in the distinctive -ian) leads you to believe that the person buried here is Armenian, but the alphabet is not the Armenian alphabet. It looks like Arabic, but when you consult the verso, you find one of the Persian language's unique characters, a K sound (common in the Arabic language) transformed into a G sound (common in the Persian language but absent from standard Arabic). Then, when you look at his very unusual (for the US) first name, it seems to be Muslim; it carries the name of God (-ollah), and probably means "thanks to God." Another clue is in the scenery. The mountain peak could be from a childhood home in northwestern Iran (near the border with Armenia) or it could be the sacred (to the Armenian Apostolic Church) Mount Ararat in modern-day Turkey. All things considered, he seems to be an Iranian immigrant of Armenian descent who may have come to the U.S. in the aftermath of the 1979 Iranian Revolution. In any case, his memorial adds the Persian alphabet to the collection that now includes Armenian, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Vietnamese, Russian, English, Japanese, and now Persian. Mount Hope Cemetery. [2020]

San Diego, California

Communities of Difference Share a Final Resting Place: Here lies buried not a Japanese American, but a citizen of Japan. He was a seaman on board a Japanese ship that called in San Diego. Overboard he fell, in 1887, as the ship departed for Mexico. His body was found off the coast of California and his remains were interred in Mount Hope Cemetery. Added to his memorial is a slab that bears a Japanese inscription, adding yet one more language and alphabet to our list: Armenian, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Vietnamese, Russian, English, and, now, Japanese. Can anyone offer a translation? Mount Hope Cemetery. [2020]

San Diego, California

Communities of Difference Share a Final Resting Place:  Mount Hope cemetery is huge, yet within a few steps in any direction you can see headstones calling attention to California's cultural diversity. Today we add English to the mix of cemetery languages. It joins Armenian, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Russian. But, don't simply assume you have found an Anglo-American, just because of the name and inscription. Take a gander at the verso and you will find a solitary cross, but one that is so unique it betrays a particular ancestry group: Armenians. The cross turns the headstone into an Armenian khachkar. "Forever in our hearts" reads the inscription; and also on the verso are four hearts. Are these symbolic of her children? If so, why not inscribe their names into each one? And, then there is the musical notation: That's an alphabet, too! Mount Hope Cemetery. [2020]

San Diego, California

Communities of Difference Share a Final Resting Place:  Now you recognize the pattern for this week's postings: We are collecting alphabets and languages from a single California cemetery. So far, we have seen Armenian, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, and Vietnamese. Now, we can add Russian, with its Cyrillic characters. Can you figure out her religion? Do you think she is first or second generation? Was she married? When do you think she arrived in the U.S.? Where does her life fit into the pageant of American history? Mount Hope Cemetery. [2020]

San Diego, California

Communities of Difference Share a Final Resting Place:  Cultural diversity is a hallmark of this San Diego cemetery. In addition to languages like Armenian, Spanish, Arabic, and Chinese, headstones also mark the final resting places of first-generation Vietnamese immigrants. See the name of his birth city? It is just south of what used to be Saigon. With just these few facts, you are able to fit his life into the pageant of American history. Mount Hope Cemetery. [2020]

San Diego, California

Communities of Difference Share a Final Resting Place:  Cultural distinction often follows us to the grave. What are the markers of difference? Names, languages, alphabets, symbols, faces, So, often folks of feather are buried together. But, not here on the California coast. San Diego reveals its multicultural character in the spatial organization of at least one of its cemeteries. In few other places in the U.S. could you find a tableau like this, where four people of very different cultural origins are interred within a body-length of each other: four people, four languages, even four alphabets! To wit: Armenian, Spanish, Arabic, and Chinese. It is fairly easy to narrow down the national origin of the Arabic speaker: Why? Mount Hope Cemetery. [2020]

Santa Clara, California

Burial or Cremation?  If you are going to be buried, why not consider being buried at sea? Full-body burials may include a casket or sail-cloth wrap, and must meet specific geographical requirements: (1) at least 3 nm from the shoreline and (2) at least 600 m in depth. Rarely are burials at sea commemorated with memorials like the one below, which reads "Passed away June 20, 1992 & was Buried at Sea." However, a plaque may be attached to a memorial wall in a cemetery or church. Santa Ana Cemetery. [2020]

San Diego, California

Burial or Cremation? Postindustrial cemeteries are constantly looking for new ways to turn a profit. Voila! Private Estates. They may take the form of a family mausoleum, but the current trend is to fence- or hedge-off a small "cemetery within a cemetery" for a single family. They are usually designed to receive either remains or cremains. Greenwood Cemetery. [2013]

San Diego, California

The First Shall be Last, and The Last First:  A committed Muslim, he was. A committed Christian, she was. And, secular enough to have a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson engraved on their, memorial: "Life is a journey, not a destination." In that trifecta is a wish for peace and a model of intercultural understanding. El Camino Memorial Park. [2013]

Covina, California

The First Shall be Last, and The Last First:  The initial letter of your last name establishes where you stand in society's pecking order. It differentiates between those at the beginning of the alphabet (the elite) and those at the end of the alphabet (the commoners). According to a study in the Economics of Education Review, the alphabetical elites are more likely to be admitted to choice schools and colleges, while the alphabetical commoners are more likely to be passed over. Will admission to heaven be any different? Forest Lawn Memorial Park. [2015]

Cathedral City, California

Cemetery Visitors:  Your assignment is to write an essay on "Cemeteries as Recreational Space." Don't forget to mention family recreation, which seems to be what's going on here. These folks will spend the day enjoying each other's company, while honoring the ancestors. To the park they have come: equipped for more than a short visit. Desert Memorial Park. [2017]

Claremont, California

Footprints ~ Too Small:  "There are no footprints too small to make a mark on our hearts and lives forever." Oak Park Cemetery. [2015]

Julian, California

Voices from the Land of the Living ~ Third Person Singular Subjective Case:  "She graced this earth with her kindness, care, passion, and strength. We are blessed to hold her love and memory in our hearts." Haven of Rest. [2013]