Beasts Head for Home (けものたちは故郷をめざす, Kemono tachi wa kokyou wo mezasu, 1957) is an early autobiographical novel by Japanese writer Kōbō Abe.

It was translated into English, with an introduction, by Richard F. Calichman for Columbia University Press in 2017 as part of the Weatherhead Books on Asia series.

Soviet forces have arrived in Manchuria, and most of the Japanese civilians living there have already fled, but Kyuzo stays behind to care for his ailing mother.

At the onset of the Chinese Civil War, the Red Army withdraws, and Kyuzo is finally able to begin the long journey south that he hopes will lead to his repatriation in Japan.

"[3] In the Asian Review of Books, Peter Gordon writes "Beasts Head for Home is as riveting and as unforgiving as the frigid Civil War wilderness in which it is set," praises Calichman's translation, but finds his introduction to be "overly complex for the lay reader.