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 familys 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 Hanabusas heartfelt portrait expands from the story of an oldfashioned family business competing with corporate supermarkets toward a subtle and sophisticated critique of social exclusion and the persistence of ancient prejudices
