ABSTRACT
For thousands of generations, humans have ritually buried various animals, imagined them as companions in the afterlife, grieved for them, and sacrificed them, whether to appease the divine or to somehow harness the power of the animal. Practices of ritually burying animals continue into the modern period. Rituals of remembrance for animals, however, are not unique to Japan; across modern societies we find instances of the commemoration of animals that have died heroic deaths, particularly military animals, which are remembered through special rites and through statues similar to human military heroes. It is not only through the ritual interment and commemoration of animals – a recognition of their connections to humans both in this life and whatever may come after death – but through the efficacy of sacrificial animal victims as a means of appeasing, communicating with, and empowering the sacred that are seen as religious significance in animals and death.
