In the Edo period, sarashi, exposure, was a punishment. An encyclopedia describes it as setting the offender down by the roadside and exposing him to the eyes of the public as a warning, a penalty of disgrace.
Another encyclopedia, citing the Osadamegaki, the code of law completed in 1742, says that in Edo the exposure lasted three days at Nihonbashi, and the offender was taken back to jail each evening.