{{short description|Mythical practice of senicide in Japan}} {{italics title}} {{Refimprove|date=February 2009}} [[File:Yoshitoshi - 100 Aspects of the Moon - 97.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|''Ubasute no tsuki'' (The Moon of Ubasute), one of the 100 works in the series ''One Hundred Aspects of the Moon'', by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi]]
{{nihongo3 | "abandoning an old woman" | 姥捨て |'''Ubasute'''|also called '''''obasute''''' and sometimes '''''oyasute''''' {{lang |ja|親捨て}} "abandoning a parent"}} is a mythical practice of senicide in Japan, whereby an infirm or elderly relative was carried to a mountain, or some other remote, desolate place, and left there to die.<ref>{{cite news|last1= Hoffman |first1= Michael|title=Aging through the ages |url= http://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2010/09/12/general/aging-through-the-ages |access-date=19 August 2016| work = The Japan Times|date=September 12, 2010}}</ref>
Kunio Yanagita concluded that the ubasute folklore comes from India's Buddhist mythology.<ref>{{cite book | last = Kunio | first = Yanagita | title = Tōno Monogatari (遠野物語) | publisher = Shueisha | volume = 264 | location = Japan | date = 1991 | isbn = 978-4087520194}} </ref> According to the Kodansha Illustrated Encyclopedia of Japan, ''ubasute'' "is the subject of legend, but…does not seem ever to have been a common custom."<ref name="Encycl">{{Citation | title = Japan, An Illustrated Encyclopedia | publisher = Kodansha | place = Tokyo | year = 1993 | page = 1121}}.</ref>
==Folklore== In one Buddhist allegory, a son carries his mother up a mountain on his back. During the journey, she stretches out her arms, catching the twigs and scattering them in their wake, so that her son will be able to find the way home.
A poem commemorates the story:
{{quote|<poem> In the depths of the mountains, Whom was it for the aged mother snapped One twig after another? Heedless of herself She did so For the sake of her son </poem>}}
==In popular culture== * The practice of ubasute is explored at length in the Japanese novel ''The Ballad of Narayama'' (1956) by Shichirō Fukazawa. The novel was the basis for three films: Keisuke Kinoshita's ''The Ballad of Narayama'' (1958), Korean director Kim Ki-young's ''Goryeojang'' (1963), and Shohei Imamura's ''The Ballad of Narayama'', which won the Palme d'Or in 1983.
* Ubasute is mentioned in the 2016 American horror film ''The Forest'', as an explanation for why locals believe that the Aokigahara forest is haunted by vengeful wraiths (yūrei).
==Places== 250px|thumb|right|Ubasute Mountain 250px|thumb|right|Ubasute Mountain * {{nihongo|''Ubasute-yama''|姨捨山|}} is the common name of {{nihongo|''Kamuriki-yama''|冠着山|}}, a mountain ({{convert|1252|m|disp=or||}}) in Chikuma, Nagano, Japan.<ref>Hoffman</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=冠着山 |url=http://www.naganoken.jp/mount/hokushin/sakaki-chikuma/kamurikiyama.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120214145708/http://www.naganoken.jp/mount/hokushin/sakaki-chikuma/kamurikiyama.htm |archive-date=February 14, 2012 |accessdate=September 10, 2025 |website=信州山学ガイド |language=ja}}</ref> * Obasute Station, Chikuma, Nagano Prefecture, Japan * According to folklore, the Aokigahara forest at the base of Mount Fuji was once such a site, where its reputation as a suicide site might have originated.<ref name="economist-30jan2016">{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/news/asia/21689651-fewer-japanese-are-killing-themselves-deep-woods|title=Suicide in Japan: Deep in the woods: Fewer Japanese are killing themselves|newspaper=The Economist|date=January 30, 2016|page=45}}</ref>
==See also== * Ättestupa * Granny dumping * Lapot
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== * ''Japan, An Illustrated Encyclopedia'', Kodansha Ltd., Tokyo, 1993, p. 1121
==External links== * [http://www.eubios.info/TRT3.htm What Japan can Offer to International Bioethics] * [http://www.geocities.co.jp/HeartLand-Gaien/7211/Japanese/ubasutej.html Folktale] in Japanese, English version: [http://www.geocities.co.jp/HeartLand-Gaien/7211/kudos6/ubasute.html]
{{coord|36|28|07|N|138|06|24|E|region:JP_source:jawiki|display=title}}
Category:Japanese folklore Category:Senicide Category:Death in Japan Category:Old age in Japan