"Kyoiku senga: Ubasute yama" is one of Japan's earliest cartoons and it is a story with a moral...to respect and value the elderly. It's a very Asian sort of ideal and the story is set long ago.
It seems a lord hated the elderly and declared that everyone who is over 60 is banished to an island where they are left to die. However, a young farmer cannot bring himself to do this to his mother and so he hides her under the floor. Later, an emissary from another lord arrives with a puzzle....and no one in the evil lord's kingdom appears able to solve it. But the farmer explains the riddle to his hidden mother and she is able to solve this riddle. Such a thing happens a second time...and once again the hidden old woman is the only one who knows the answer. As a result of the lord saving face, he grants the farmer a request...and he naturally asks that his mother be spared. The moral of this story is the wisdom and experience of the elderly being important to society.
This story is much like "The Ballad of Narayama"...stories which supposedly dictate that the elderly be killed because they are a burden. Fortunately, neither story is true (thank God).
This animated film is interesting because of how the film is animated (they appeared to have used cut-out dolls and animated them over backgrounds) as well as the very high quality of the cartoon. It's better than most American cartoons of the period and is a lovely story...well worth seeing. And, fortunately, it can be seen with subtitles at the web page for Japanese Animated Film Classics.
It seems a lord hated the elderly and declared that everyone who is over 60 is banished to an island where they are left to die. However, a young farmer cannot bring himself to do this to his mother and so he hides her under the floor. Later, an emissary from another lord arrives with a puzzle....and no one in the evil lord's kingdom appears able to solve it. But the farmer explains the riddle to his hidden mother and she is able to solve this riddle. Such a thing happens a second time...and once again the hidden old woman is the only one who knows the answer. As a result of the lord saving face, he grants the farmer a request...and he naturally asks that his mother be spared. The moral of this story is the wisdom and experience of the elderly being important to society.
This story is much like "The Ballad of Narayama"...stories which supposedly dictate that the elderly be killed because they are a burden. Fortunately, neither story is true (thank God).
This animated film is interesting because of how the film is animated (they appeared to have used cut-out dolls and animated them over backgrounds) as well as the very high quality of the cartoon. It's better than most American cartoons of the period and is a lovely story...well worth seeing. And, fortunately, it can be seen with subtitles at the web page for Japanese Animated Film Classics.
