Summary
Highlights
A poor farmer lives with his aged mother in a land called Shining, governed by a despotic leader who, fearing illness and weakness, issues a cruel proclamation: all aged people in the province must be put to death. Despite his sorrow, the son prepares to obey the mandate.
The son, carrying his mother, embarks on a painful journey up "Obatsuyama," the mountain of the abandoning of the aged. The mother, despite her impending fate, lovingly drops twigs to create a path, ensuring her son's safe return down the confusing mountain.
At the summit, the son prepares to leave his mother. With a trembling voice, she warns him of the mountain's dangers and instructs him to follow the path of twigs she marked. Moved by her selfless love, the son refuses to leave her, and they descend the mountain together, with him vowing to die with her.
The son secretly hides his mother in a walled closet beneath his kitchen floor, providing for her needs while living in constant fear of discovery. Some time later, the governor issues another unreasonable demand: for his subjects to present him with a rope of ashes.
Distressed by the governor's impossible demand, the son confides in his hidden mother. She devises a clever solution: make a rope of twisted straw, stretch it on flat stones, and burn it on a windless night, leaving behind a perfect rope of ashes.
The governor is pleased by the youth's wit and asks where he gained such wisdom. The son reveals the truth about his mother. The governor, realizing that "with the crown of snow there cometh wisdom," abolishes the cruel law against the aged, and the custom fades into the past.