Take our user survey and make your voice heard.
Kyoto-based company PET began offering pet funeral services throughout the southern-central Kansai region of Japan late last year. On Dec 30, it further announced a new partnership with Jomanji (成満寺), a well-established Buddhist temple of the Jodo Shinshu sect in Fukuchiyama City, Kyoto Prefecture.
▼ Jomanji, founded in 1603
While pet cremation services in Japan have diversified in recent years, PET Director Yu Naohara was inspired to create the new temple pet funeral services Annon (お寺のペット葬 安穏), with annon meaning “peace” or “tranquility,” in light of his own experience of grieving a beloved family pet and not feeling like enough care or attention was put into its funeral.
Annon’s services are distinguishable from other current offerings by three main factors:
- A Buddhist priest will conduct exactly the same services for a departed pet as they would for a human
- A memorial movie honoring the departed pet will be made by a professional videographer
- The funeral service will include genuine, pet-exclusive altar fittings
▼ A sample Annon memorial movie for a dog named Koko
With all of these personalized details, the services are not only meant to serve as a respectful farewell to a beloved member of the family but also to help guide the remaining family members towards peace and closure.
When it comes to the actual funeral, a Buddhist priest will hold the service in the main temple building followed by another ceremony on the grounds during which the pet’s cremated ashes are dedicated to its family in a funerary urn.
▼ Here is the main team leading the partnership. Left: Kosuke Emoto (helps with PET marketing and social media), Center: Akihide Kimoto (Buddhist priest), Right: Yu Naohara (PET Director)
Source: PR Times
Read more stories from SoraNews24.
-- Three main reasons why fewer and fewer Japanese people are having funerals
-- Yahoo! Shopping now offers funeral services in Japan
-- Do-it-yourself funeral kits go on sale in Japan
- External Link
- https://soranews24.com/2021/01/05/company-pet-partners-with-kyoto-temple-to-offer-genuine-funeral-services-for-beloved-pets/
8 Comments
Login to comment
Nippori Nick
And the average cost is how much? (Scared to ask)
robert maes
Money, money, money ..
DenTok2009
@NipporiNick I think it's around a million yen or more. A friend's wife had a funeral service for her dog. Another friend commented that if his wife did that, he would divorce her. I told him that the guy must be all right with his wife spending that much money on their pet. He said that the dog was the wife's pet and the guy was complaining to him because she didn't consult him at all.
cleo
Not religious, so I don't feel the need for priests and temples or churches.
There is a pet cremation service near us, run by a couple who were turned away from the local temple and decided to do it themselves and also provide a service for others.
The whole thing is very tasteful and considerate; the owner/family can spend as much time they like saying Goodbye before that awful button is pushed.
The price depends on the size of the pet. My memory is a little hazy, but I think we paid around 15,000 yen for a cat and maybe twice that for a small-to-medium sized (9 or 10 kilos) dog. That includes flowers, urn and embroidered urn cover.
A million yen sounds like way over the top to me, but when people are grieving they do what they feel they need to do to ease the pain. If that involves chanting prayers, burning incense and whatever else is included in the price, so be it.
From my personal experience, I would say that nothing eases the pain but time. A lot of time.
Patricia Yarrow
Cleo wins the Internet today with her kind, rational, and insightful thoughts on this incredibly difficult time and the choices they await.
DenTok2009
@cleo 15,000 yen is a reasonable price for flowers, urn and embroidered urn cover. 150,000 would be extravagant but an affordable splurge. 1,500,000 is WTF?!? My friend wouldn't spend 1,500 on death costs; he would put the pet in a burnable trash bag. (That's what he told our mutual friend plus he said, what I think is true, you don't need to have a priest or monk or religious leader say prayers or chant something.) Good thing he doesn't have a pet. Although at one time he did, well, actually it was his daughter's, but she didn't live with him...
cleo
He'd have a hard job being my friend, I think.