Ubasute is an infamous motif in Japanese folklore, which can be roughly translated to “elderly dumping.” Though no historical records back up the claim, the custom of senicide—leaving old people in the mountains to die so that there would be less mouths to feed in the village—is a well-established concept in Japanese legends. A major example of a purported site of ubasute tradition can be found in the village of Yamaguchi-Tsuchibuchi in Tōno, Iwate Prefecture, a city famed for its associations with folklorist Kunio Yanagita, the author of The Legends of Tōno. Locally…
