Art, Aging, and Abandonment in Japan

Abstract

Representations of aging in Japanese art not only influence how older adults construct their identity in late life, but the ethical implications of this identification. This article concentrates on one representation of aging in Japanese art, the crone of Obasuteyama, as she has appeared in various forms throughout centuries of Japanese folklore, literature, theater, and film. This article argues that although the Obasuteyama story addresses the moral questions surrounding the fear of abandonment in old age, its multiple artistic interpretations also provide older adults with different, and sometimes contradictory cultural models to understand and cope with this fear. Ethnographic observations and interview material concerning aging and abandonment in the lives of present-day Japanese adults are used to show how seemingly different attitudes toward aging can be linked to a shared narrative of abandonment.