Description

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ある精肉店のはなし　(Aru seinikuten no hanashi)

In Kaizuka City, Osaka, the family-run Kitaide butcher shop makes its living by raising and slaughtering cattle, selling the meat. From the moment of tension when the hammer drops on the forehead of the cow, cattle are transformed  into meat through practiced movements. This labor, traditionally the work of the Burakumin, the outcastes of feudal Japan, is passed down to the next generation by parents, who hope their children will not encounter discrimination as they have. People live by eating the lives of others. This is a record of a family who looks into the nature of life, every single day.

” I cannot forget the shock I experienced when I first saw the work done in slaughterhouses. I encountered a world completely different than my imagination. What I had thought to be a dark, cold, and frightening place was replaced by an image of a warm space full of energy, where the workers engaged with life with every fiber in their body. I was fortunate to meet a family that was earnest and steadfast in its relationship with butchering.”—Aya Hanabusa

Warning: Some scenes that show the slaughtering process may be disturbing for sensitive viewers.