Photo/Illutration A man said he suffered years of ostracism in this farming community in Usa, Oita Prefecture. (Shogo Ohata)

NAKATSU, Oita Prefecture--A spat in a tiny farming community led to years of ostracism of a 72-year-old man and finally a court ruling that ordered local leaders to pay him 1.43 million yen ($13,000) in compensation.

After the ruling by the Oita District Court’s Nakatsu branch on May 25, the plaintiff described his isolation as “bullying by adults.”

“I felt like I was being kept under surveillance around the clock,” he said of his life. “I was so cornered that I lost my faith in humanity at one point.”

The court ruled that the local leaders’ actions against the plaintiff constituted “ostracism that went beyond the confines of what is permitted under normal social conventions.”

Part of Usa city in the prefecture, his community with 14 households is nestled in a mountainous area, surrounded by rice paddies and farming land.

The seemingly idyllic neighborhood, however, turned hostile for the man in 2013.

He said he fell victim to “mura-hachibu,” a practice dating to the Edo Period (1603-1867) to punish residents who breach rules in a community. Based on a consensus reached in the community, all residents stop associating with the resident’s family and isolate them for the “violation.”

The man said he was excluded from mowing grass and other joint activities with local residents. He also found that the only exchanges he could have was to give a nod to some of the residents he ran into.

“I left home very early in the morning and came back at night” to avoid others, he said.

The man, who had worked as a public servant in Hyogo Prefecture, returned to the community in 2009 to care for his mother and to do farm work. Two years later, his mother died.

His isolation in the community began in 2013 after he raised doubts about the management of grants given to local farmers.

In March that year, his request for documents about the grants triggered a confrontation with some residents.

After more disagreements, community residents adopted a resolution to exclude him from the neighborhood association and to sever ties with him the following month.

They said the reason for doing so was that his certificate of residence had not been transferred to the community from Hyogo Prefecture.

As a result, the man became unable to receive Usa city reports and notices about community events.

He transferred his residence certificate to the community and applied for a fresh membership in the association in 2014.

But he was rejected because the association said “it was not approved by every one in the community.”

After the man complained about the social ostracism to the Oita Prefecture Bar Association, lawyers issued a recommendation in 2017 for the community to improve the situation, calling his case a “blatant example of a human rights violation.”

However, conditions did not get better, so he took legal action in 2018 against three former community heads and the Usa city government.

In the lawsuit, the defendants argued that the man was to blame because he reported them to police without justifiable reasons and blocked traffic.

The court, however, ruled in favor of the man, while it found that Usa city officials were not responsible for the community leaders’ actions because they were not hired by the city government.

“I was greatly relieved because the court found that I was not wrong despite the defendants’ arguments that I am only to blame (for their ostracism),” he said.

He added that he is ready to have talks with community residents to improve relations.

But the rift runs deep in the community.

“We usually welcome people who come here to live, as the community has suffered from depopulation,” said a resident in his 80s. “But I am afraid things will not turn for the better even after the court handed down the ruling.”

Each household in the tight-knit community offered 100,000 yen to cover the legal costs of the three defendants. A woman who lives on her monthly pension of 40,000 yen was one of the donors.

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