This volume provides an historical overview of Japan's relationship with
animals from ancient times to the 1950s. Its analysis serves as a lens
through which to scrutinize Japanese tradition and interrogate
ahistorical claims about Japan's culturally endemic empathy for the
natural world. Departing from existing scholarship on the subject, the
book also connects Japan's much-maligned record of animal exploitation
with its strong adherence to contextual, needs-based moral memory.