Five people have died in a stabbing attack in the western Japanese city of Sumoto, local media report.
A 40-year-old unemployed man was arrested for allegedly attacking the victims in a house early on Monday morning, according to police.
Japanese media have named the attacker as Tatsuhiko Hirano. Reports say he was found with blood on his clothes and initially admitted to the killing.
The motive for the attack was not immediately clear.
The Asahi Shimbun reported that police found the bodies of two women in their 50s and 60s and the body of a man in his 60s in one house. A couple in their 80s were found dead in another house nearby, it said.

The attacker was said to have lived in the neighbourhood.
The city of Sumoto is located on Awaji island, in the Hyogo prefecture.