Yokohama War Victims Memorial

The Yokohama War Victims Memorial (横浜戦災者慰霊碑) stands within the grounds of Mitsuzawa Municipal Cemetery (三ツ沢墓地), adjacent to the cemetery management office in Kanagawa Ward, Yokohama. It was erected by the City of Yokohama in March 1950, approximately five years after the devastating air raids that destroyed much of the city.

The memorial is sometimes said to have stood originally at Kuboyama (久保山) before being moved to Mitsuzawa Cemetery, though the government survey of memorials records only its present site. It serves as the central civic monument commemorating all civilians who perished in the multiple air raids on Yokohama during 1945, including the catastrophic raid of May 29.

The Mitsuzawa Cemetery complex contains three related monuments: the 1950 memorial stone, a memorial tower for the air-raid dead (戦災遭難者諸霊供養塔) dedicated in May 1947 for the third memorial anniversary, and a "Gassho" (合掌 — praying hands) stone erected by the Yokohama association of bereaved families on 29 May 1972. Together they form one of the principal air-raid memorial sites in Yokohama.

Yokohama suffered multiple air raids between April and August 1945. The April 15, 1945 raid targeted the Kawasaki-Tsurumi industrial zone. The May 29 raid — by far the most destructive — leveled the entire city center. Subsequent smaller raids on June 10 (Tomioka area) and July-August continued until the end of the war. Estimates of the dead vary widely: one long-cited figure for the May 29 raid is 3,650, others give about 7,000, and the City of Yokohama has cited some 8,000 to 10,000.