当代日本作家村田喜代子的《蕨野行》,以弃老传说为文化原型,勾勒出江户时代饥荒时期被遗弃的老人在“蕨野”生存的故事。该作品一方面通过“蕨野”老人自我主体性与生命价值的重塑,审视现代老龄化危机下老年个体的生命困境;另一方面以“蕨野”与“蕨野”老人的和谐共生,揭示现代生态危机下建立人与自然内在统一的生态规律认识的必要性。同时,作品借“蕨野”老人经验与智慧的代际传递,警示以农耕文化为代表的传统文化记忆丧失的现实危机。作品从生命、生态与生存三个维度对现代危机进行了深入反思,传达了作家对人类在现代社会进程中重新审视自身与自然关系的深切忧虑,以及对传统文化在维系社会稳定与生态平衡中关键作用的深刻洞见。

The contemporary Japanese author Murata Kiyoko’s Warabinokou, uses the legend of Ubasute as its cultural archetype to depict the story of elderly individuals abandoned during a famine in the Edo period, struggling to survive in “Warabino”. The work, on one hand, scrutinizes the life predicaments of elderly individuals within the modern aging crisis through the reconstruction of self-subjectivity and life value of the elderly in “Warabino”. On the other hand, it reveals the necessity of recognizing ecological principles that establish an intrinsic unity between humanity and nature in the face of the modern ecological crisis, as exemplified by the harmonious coexistence of “Warabino” and the elderly. Additionally, by highlighting the intergenerational transmission of experience and wisdom among the “Warabino” elderly, the work warns of the imminent crisis of losing traditional cultural memory, particularly that represented by agrarian culture. The work offers a profound reflection on modern crises from the perspectives of life, ecology, and survival, conveying the author’s deep concern for humanity’s need to reassess its relationship with nature in the process of modern societal development and underscoring the crucial role of traditional culture in maintaining social stability and ecological balance.