The Story of a Butcher Shop

Synopsis

The Kitades run a butcher shop in Kaizuka City outside Osaka, raising and slaughtering cattle to sell the meat in their store. The seventh generation of their family's business, they are descendants of the buraku people, a social minority held over from the caste system abolished in the 19th century that is still subject to discrimination. As the Kitades are forced to make the difficult decision to shut down their slaughterhouse, the question posed by the film is whether doing this will also result in the deconstruction of the prejudices imposed on them. Though primarily documenting the process of their work with meticulous detail, Aya Hanabusa also touches on the Kitades' participation in the buraku liberation movement. Hanabusa's heartfelt portrait expands from the story of an old-fashioned family business competing with corporate supermarkets, toward a subtle and sophisticated critique of social exclusion and the persistence of ancient prejudices.

Main Cast

Crew

Department	Role	Name
Directing	Director	Aya Hanabusa
Production	Producer	Seiichi Motohashi
Camera	Director of Photography	Chizuna Okubo
Sound	Music	Junpei Sakuma
Editing	Editor	Kunihiko Ukai
Department	Role	Name

Join the discussion