English Version
Once known as a kind of ubasuteyama—a place associated with the abandonment of the elderly—Dendera Field is still surrounded by unsettling rumors. Some say spirits of old people appear here, that faint sobbing can be heard, or that ghostly images show up in photographs.
According to local tradition, when an old man abandoned at Dendera Field died, the sound of a bell would ride the wind back to the village. When an old woman died, her crying voice would be carried back instead.
The legend says that in times of food shortage, elderly people who could no longer work were carried by their sons to Dendera Field. The place was regarded as a graveyard for the living, and anyone brought there was treated as already deceased, whether they were still alive or not.
On the way, the parent would break branches from the trees and tell the son, as a final message, “Use these branches as markers so you can return without getting lost.”
It is remembered as a painfully sad story: a parent thinking of their child until the very end, even prepared to give up their own life if it meant not becoming a burden.
Dendera Field is associated with the area around Yamaguchi, Tsuchibuchi-cho, Tono City, Iwate Prefecture. If you visit, be respectful of local residents, private land, weather conditions, and any posted rules or access restrictions.
Japanese Language
かつての姨捨山。老人の霊が現れる、すすり泣く声が聞こえてくる、心霊写真が撮れるといった噂が絶えない。デンデラ野に捨てられた老人は、男性が死ぬと鈴の音、女性が死ぬと泣き声となって、風にのって村まで聞こえてきたと伝えられている。食料難のために働く事のできなくなった老人は、息子に背負われデンデラ野へと連れて行かれた。デンデラ野は生きた者の墓場とされ、ここに連れてこられた老人は生死に関わらず故人として扱われた。親は道中、木の枝を折り続け息子に「この枝を目印に迷わず帰れ」と最後の言葉を告げたとのこと。
親は最後まで子を想い、子に迷惑がかかると分かれば自らの命をも捧げる覚悟もできる。そんな切なく悲しい伝承が残っている場所と言われている。岩手県遠野市土淵町山口３地割３１
