Return to an Abandoned Village: 50 Years in Tsubayama

A family and a village, documented over the course of five decades. Tsubayama in Kochi Prefecture, a steep mountainside village, is said to have been settled by a defeated samurai of the Heike clan some 800 years ago. There, brush-burning agriculture and mountain worship were carried on for centuries. But the population aged, and the village was abandoned. Three years ago, a man returned and began living there alone. He cut the weeds, caught wild boar, prayed to the mountain. Memories of past generations filled his life. Soon, other former residents began to gather in Tsubayama. What does one's home village mean to the Japanese? The story is told against the backdrop of the traditional Taiko Dance.