The Ballad of Narayama
With my mother on my back, now is the time to say goodbye to this world.
In a remote village where food is scarce, elders who reach the age of 70 are carried by their children to the top of a nearby mountain to die in solitude. Orin, a vibrant 69-year-old grandmother, has accepted her fate — but struggles to prepare the rest of her family for the ritual.
Cast
Kinuyo Tanaka
Orin
Teiji Takahashi
Tatsuhei
Yūko Mochizuki
Tamayan
Seiji Miyaguchi
Matayan
Yūnosuke Itō
Matayan's son
Ken Mitsuda
Teruyan
Danko Ichikawa
Kesakichi
Keiko Ogasawara
Matsu-yan
Eijirō Tōno
Messenger
Kō Nishimura
One of the villagers who Teaches Narayama's Manners (uncredited)
Katsuyuki Hattori
Tatsuhei's son (uncredited)
Tokuji Kobayashi
One of the villagers who teaches Narayama's manners (uncredited)
Masao Oda
One of the villagers who teaches Narayama's manners (uncredited)
Videos
Storyline
In a remote village where food is scarce, elders who reach the age of 70 are carried by their children to the top of a nearby mountain to die in solitude. Orin, a vibrant 69-year-old grandmother, has accepted her fate — but struggles to prepare the rest of her family for the ritual.
Recommended
The Ballad of Narayama
1983
The Ceremony
1971
Plan 75
2022
Around the Bend
2004
Black or White
2015
Bastard Out of Carolina
1996
Blackbird
2019
Still Walking
2008
Holy Lands
2019
The Thing with Feathers
2025
A Question of Faith
2017
Goodbye June
2025
More Like This
A Long Way Home
2003
Ricki and the Flash
2015
The Vicious Kind
2009
Hearts of Gold
2003
Moonstruck
1987
Plastic Man
1999
Nobody Knows
2004
Forrest Gump
1994
Daughter
2019
The Sky Is Pink
2019
A History of Violence
2005
My Family and the Wolf
2019