Let’s recall a little. A few years ago, ‘pet funeral’ was not a ceremony held by everyone. We usually think that under the background of that era, the status of pets was not high enough to reach that level. The feelings for dogs were still at the stage of watchdogs. So in that era, many pet owners naturally thought that burial after a dog left was already the best ‘etiquette’, and there was no common sense of holding a funeral at all.
However, with the increasing development of China’s pet market, pet funeral-related institutions have gradually emerged in China in recent years. Pet funeral parlors and pet cemeteries have emerged one after another in first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. The topic we are discussing today is Japanese pet funeral culture. Japanese pet funeral culture can be traced back to the Second World War. Before World War II, Japanese people always thought that pets = animals. While sacrificing farming livestock in temples across the country, sacrificing cats and dogs was also seen everywhere. After World War II, Japan built special temple pagodas across the country to support guide dogs and police dogs that had made contributions to humans. But such measures are not pet funerals but religious meanings on the part of temples. You know. And people really began to have a sense of pet funeral starting from the Showa period. In the first half of 1945 (Showa 20), in order to meet the growing demand for pet funerals, some temples in Tokyo began to hold funerals for pets of ordinary Japanese families one after another, including cremation, ashes, and related services. At the same time, in Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture and other places, in addition to pet funeral activities held by religious legal persons, local general legal persons also launched animal cemetery undertakings. In 1955 (Showa 30), Japan’s first pet funeral institution, the Heiwakai Pet Memorial Hall, was established. Around 1955 (Showa 30), animal funeral undertakings were also launched among the people in the Kansai region of Japan. Since then, Japanese pet funeral culture has begun.After a long development and evolution, it can be said that Japan has the richest pet funeral culture in the world. Then interested friends will definitely ask, what is the difference between pet funerals and human funerals? I believe everyone has an answer. Except for the different objects, it is basically the same as human funerals. The basic process of the entire pet funeral includes farewell ceremonies, cremation, bone storage, etc. Each step has corresponding rules and standards.