The first time I watched the famous Japanese movie "Narayama Setikao", I was shocked: the movie tells the story of a poor mountain village in Shinshu in ancient Japan. Due to food shortages, the elderly will be forced to die as soon as they reach the age of 60. Children carrying their children to the mountains to "worship the mountain gods" are actually being left to die.
Picture: 1984 "Narayama Festival" won all Japanese film awards that year
What is even more shocking is that this cruel folk custom of "abandoning the elderly" is not a fiction, but a Japanese True ancient history.
1.
There is a famous "Auntie Mountain" in Nagano Prefecture, Japan, which means "Abandoned Mother Mountain" in Japanese.
The Nagano area of ??ancient Japan was very poor. When the elderly got old, in order to reduce the burden on the family, they were abandoned by their children and left to die in the mountains. In fact, folklore, Japanese songs, and ballads about "Abandoned Mother Mountain" and "Abandoned Old Mountain" can be found all over Japan except Hokkaido.
From ancient times to the present in Japan, literary products with the theme of "abandoning the old" have endured in fairy tales, ballads, haiku, novels, and scripts.
In the "Anthology of Ancient and Modern Japanese Songs" from the Heian Period (10th century) in Japan, there is a story about "abandoning the old mountain". It tells that a mother was over 60 years old, and her son deceived her into a mountain and wanted to abandon her, but he saw Seeing the bright moonlight, my conscience was uneasy, and I recited a harmony song: "My heart can't be calm, seeing this abandoned old mountain shrouded in the moonlight." Finally, he carried the old man down the mountain and continued to support him.
Regarding the custom of abandoning the elderly in ancient Japan, modern Japanese scholars have analyzed two reasons. Firstly, Japan has poor natural resources and many famines. Due to famine, food shortage, war and migration, the elderly have become a burden and burden on the family. In order to survive, the problem of abandoning the elderly has arisen; secondly, the Japanese have a simple tradition since ancient times. The Shinto view believes that all things are born and destroyed, and "abandoning the old" does not violate Japanese morality, but is a matter of conforming to nature for the benefit of the group.
2.
In addition to Japan, ancient Korea and India also had the custom of abandoning the elderly.
During the Goryeo Dynasty (the Goryeo Dynasty corresponds to the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, Song, and Yuan dynasties in China), the country had a decree: after the elderly were over 60 years old, their sons should use a wicker chair to carry the elderly on their backs to the mountains and abandon them. , and then bury the old man after his death, which is called "Korea burial". There was a Korean movie of the same name in the 1960s, which talked about this cruel custom.
In Korean folktales, the King of Goryeo finally abolished this law that violated human ethics because of a Chinese emperor.
The story goes like this: A filial son was unwilling to abandon his old mother, so he secretly hid her in a cave and gave her food every day. At this time, the emperor of China posed a difficult problem to the King of Korea: How to twist ashes into straw rope? If you cannot answer, you may be despised and attacked. The King of Goryeo and his ministers racked their brains and found nothing, so they mobilized the people of the country to answer the question together.
The filial son told his mother about this, and the mother smiled: Son, after twisting the rice into a straw rope, put it on the ground and burn it, wouldn’t the ashes look like a straw rope? The son then offered his advice to the King of Korea. The King of Korea was overjoyed and asked him why he was so wise. The son frankly revealed that it was his hidden old mother who came up with the idea. The King of Goryeo was deeply moved and realized that the old man was a treasure, so he ordered the abolition of the "Goryeo burial".
3.
Similar to the North Korean story of "The old man solved the problem and moved the king", there is also a story in the Buddhist scriptures "Abandoning the Old Country", but the country is ancient India. It was not abandoned but buried alive, and the questions became many, and the old man answered them one by one.
Compared with other Asian countries, China in ancient times was rich in products and the contradiction of old-age care was not prominent. In particular, the level of civilization was far higher. The "filial piety" in Confucianism was deeply rooted in the Chinese people. The "unfilial piety" of most dynasties was If you commit a crime, you will go to jail. The phenomenon of "abandoning the elderly" only exists in a very small number of poor areas. For example, a large number of "abandoning the elderly" have been discovered in Yunxian County, Hubei and other places.
Today, the ancient bad custom of abandoning the elderly has long been eradicated. Japan's elderly care service industry leads the world. The average life expectancy of its citizens is as high as 83 years, ranking first in the world. It is one of the most suitable countries in the world for elderly care. South Korea and North Korea, on the other hand, are very respectful to the elderly. When the elderly reach their 60th birthday, they celebrate the "Sixtieth Birthday".
The long process from "Abandoned Mother Mountain" to a big pension country, from "Koryeo Burial" to "Flower Armor Festival" is a huge progress in human material and civilization.
Whoever speaks an inch of grass will be rewarded with three rays of spring. May "abandoning old age" become history forever, and may every parent in the world be healthy and live a long life.