2025 Volume 31 Issue 2 Pages 1-12
In this paper, we have examined a life history of Ms. Kikuno Takeda, an octogenarian resident of a marginalized village of Ikenokouchi in Tsuruga City, Fukui Prefecture, where the population has decreased to only one individual. Through her life experiences, we have explored the contents of her view of nature by approaching animals such as monkeys, deer, wild boars, and bears not as mere beasts but as “Yamanomon”.
Ikenokouchi is a village where nature overwhelms human activities, with practices such as river cleaning, slash-and-burn agriculture, charcoal making, and rice field cultivation aimed at sharing the blessings of nature collectively (referred to as “Yamanomon,” rituals related to deities, etc.). Until the 1980s, residents of this village used to let dogs roam freely to keep the “Yamanomon” away. Additionally, they had a longstanding practice of hunting and communally consuming “Yamanomon” such as copper pheasants, ducks, and wild boars.
However, as of 2024, due to the progress of depopulation, the forces of nature in Ikenokouchi have been growing even stronger. Kikuno, the last resident who possesses the knowledge of ancestral practices towards nature, continues to approach animals like wild boars not merely as beasts but as wise “Yamanomon,” practicing a form of etiquette characterized by reverence and facing them with a sense of “propriety.”
What we want to emphasize in this paper is that Kikuno’s view of nature, which can connect through words with “Yamanomon”, is inseparable from the unique lifestyle of Ikenokouchi. This way of life has been built upon the accumulated practices that the residents of this village have been implementing. This unique culture in Ikenokouchi is likely to be lost before our eyes, along with the imminent arrival of the abandoned village.
