Ubasute is a mythical practice of senicide in Japan, whereby an infirm or elderly relative was carried to a mountain, or some other remote, desolate place, and left there to die.

an elderly mother is carried by her son up a mountain, where he intends to abandon her. Although the mother is aware of what her son is doing to her, she still cares for him and scattered broken twigs on the ground so that he would be able to find his way down the mountain.