Israel Jurich
Japanese Cinema
Anime!!!
Trinity
In the world of Japanese animation, known (and loved) as anime, the works of
Miyazaki Hayao are among the greatest. His films are household names in Japan, and
favorites of anime fans around the world. (Napier 471) Among his best-known and bestloved films are Kaze no tani no Nausicaa (Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind) and
Mononokehime (Princess Mononoke). The two stories take place in remarkably
different settings and possess an originality that prevents their reconciliation with the idea
that they are merely different representations of the same story. Yet, the two share many
parallels that draw the viewer to the common themes of Miyazaki’s works, including
peace and warfare, human nature, the responsible use of technology, and most notably,
respect for nature. (Napier 475)
Princess Mononoke and Nausicaa express more than just a respect for nature,
but rather a three-part harmony of kami, humans, and nature, an idea which, while found
in other cultures around the globe, is a fundamental core of Japanese belief. Miyazaki
presents this ideal of closeness with nature and the spirits that live with nature as
something that has been lost, or perhaps, is yet to be attained. It is human conflict with
the natural and supernatural forces that has broken the sacred rhythm of the cosmos. In
addition, this harmony requires cooperation amongst humanity as well, hence the films’
populations of stereotype-shattering characters that challenge the viewer to understand
each character on an individual basis rather than confine them to one side or the other of
a dualistic Disney-designed conflict. Miyazaki presents complex interwoven conflicts
(both internal and external) and rather than giving a reassuringly upbeat ending that
quickly solves all the unanswered problems, he ends the stories with questions left for the
audience to consider for themselves. (Napier 477) Nausicaa and Princess Mononoke
ask us, “ How can one reconcile the essential spiritual and natural elements of the world
with the modern technology and scientific progress of humankind?”
This requires of us an understanding of the nature of the Japanese worldview as
presented in the two films. They portray a reality in which nature is consciously aware,
and yet, unlike the “natural world” of Disney and other Western animation, is thoroughly
inhuman and wild. In addition, both films examine humanity’s place in the world and the
causes of disharmony within both human society and the cosmological rhythm. The third
aspect of Nausicaa and Princess Mononoke, one that is not often acknowledged, is the
importance of spirituality and a respect for the awe-inspiring supernatural elements that
share the world with nature and humanity.
In Princess Mononoke, the supernatural is an obvious presence. The shishigami,
a deer-like spirit that protects the forest and conducts the giving and taking of life is
clearly an idealized picture of a kami, a deity in Japanese mythology. There is a definite
divine quality to the creature’s character. It possesses no amount of human emotion or
personality. No facial expressions or song and dance to endear the kami to the audience.
Yet it’s power and the feeling of awe that rises within the viewer when the shishigami
appears establishes its character and importance within the story. (Napier 488) It is
interesting to note that the shishigami takes no sides in the central conflict between
humans and nature.
The supernatural element is not without emotion however. In contrast with the
serious, and nearly somber demeanor of the shishigami, is the playful curiosity of the
kodama. The kodama are the spirits of the trees. They possess childlike qualities that
quickly endear them to the viewer, although the people in the film show a less paternal
reaction and seem to respect or fear the little white fellows. One of the memorable
scenes shows them gleefully riding in the treetops as the wind whips through the
branches. Another scene shows three kodama gather around a recently cut sapling,
mourning its passing. They, like the shishigami, show no ill will toward either the
humans or nature.
The “kami” of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind show definite partisanship in
the films nature / human conflict. The Ohmu are the great multi-eyed insects that guard
the Fukai, a huge toxic forest that covers much of the earth. It is arguable whether or not
one can accurately designate the Ohmu as kami, but an analysis of the Japanese notion of
kami points to the fact that these great creatures fit the qualifications necessary to be
considered kami.
The term kami is much more inclusive than the English word “god.” The notion
of kami is complicated because of the great number of them and their great variety of
forms. “In Shinto’s animistic beliefs, natural products, animals, rocks, and mountains, as
well as individuals [humans], can all become kami. Kami were gods not because of any
moral attributes…but because of their special powers.” (Napier 484) Kami, therefore,
need not be invisible, benevolent beings that uphold all that is good in the world. They
can be fearsome, violent, and even evil. Motoori Norinaga, a great Shinto scholar, wrote,
“Generally speaking, the word “kami” denotes…any being whatsoever which possesses
some eminent quality out of the ordinary, and is awe-inspiring, is called kami.”
The Ohmu possess great power. This is shown through the obvious example of
Nausicaa’s resurrection, but there are hints of it throughout the film. The Ohmu seem to
possess a psychic ability to communicate with each other. The very reaction of the
humans to the awesome Ohmu is perhaps enough to designate them, according to the
Norinaga’s explanation, as kami.
The Ohmu are the protectors of the Fukai, and as such, find themselves to be the
enemies of the humans who would seek to destroy the huge poisonous forest. In this
regard they take a side against humanity, they do however possess some great
intelligence, albeit quite different and often subservient to the creatures raging emotions,
and do not consider all humans to be enemies. It is only their allegiance to nature that
forces them to treat many humans as hostile intruders in a future world that is
increasingly less inhabitable for mankind.
This image of a hostile paradise appears in both films as well, Miyazaki’s vision
of a nature that has suffered at human hands for long enough and finally stands against
them. There is however, a little room in the conflicts for reconciliation between the two
forces, and this is the window of hope for the protagonists.
In Princess Mononoke, the natural world is envisioned through the forest of the
shishigami. It is inhabited and protected by intelligent animals, wolves, boars, and apes.
The animals show no love for the humans of Tatara, the ironworks. The forest is a
frightening place for humans, for they are not welcome in a place where their kind is
responsible for a great deal of death and destruction. (Napier 488) Its beauty, however,
evokes a yearning in the audience, a desire to be there and we side with the forest and
San against the destruction and technology of Tatara. Miyazaki himself feels the same
about that mystical place, explaining that we are drawn to it because “somehow traces of
that kind of place still exist inside one’s soul.” (Napier 485)
Nausicaa contains a hostile forest as well. The Fukai is a vast forest of beautiful
plants, the spores of which are deadly to humans. Protected by the insects and Ohmu, the
forest spreads unchecked across the world, driving mankind into little pockets of
unscathed land, like the Valley of the Wind where Nausicaa lives. This paradoxical
reversal of the situation of our rainforest today is no coincidence. The difference
between the shishigami’s forest and the Fukai is that, in this story, it is the Fukai that
appears to be the aggressor. The human audience is more like to sympathize with the
humans that are being overrun by the spreading forest. Then the audience considers the
present situation, in which the world’s forests are being overrun by the spreading human
civilization.
The conflict of the Fukai and humans takes a different twist when the purpose of
the Fukai is discovered. The plants are cleaning the pollution of the earth that was ruined
by humans. It is this pollution in the plants that makes them toxic. Suddenly the humans
do not seem to be as victimized by the encroaching forest and swarms of insects. The
forest has a purpose, and even more so, a right to be spreading across the globe that
humanity irresponsibly poisoned. The humans, if they are to survive, must change, must
adapt, and must live in harmony with nature and the great power that protects it.
The forests in the films are in harmony with their respective kami. They are in
their proper place within the rhythm of the cosmos that is idealized in Miyazaki’s work.
It is humans who have broken the triangle of harmonious interrelationships. Humans
have brought conflict and destruction, and yet, the films do not establish humans as
“evil,” as Disney has done in films like Bambi. Instead, they are often motivated by
circumstances that are out of their control or by fear and misunderstanding of their place
in the world. Nevertheless the discord has brought humans into conflict amongst
themselves as well as the natural / supernatural world.
The portrayal of humans in both Princess Mononoke and Nausicaa is one of
realistic understanding of human nature. They are not dualistically divided into good and
bad. The antagonists are, instead of irrationally motivated by greed and power, are as
human and mentally stable viewers can sympathize with them without feeling like they
are siding with the “bad guy.” The heroes are not so exceptionally perfect that they are
beyond our own limits and thus we can imagine that we could, and this is what Miyazaki
desires, fill their shoes and act as honorably and courageously as they.
Ashitaka is the male hero of Princess Mononoke. The females in the film often
overshadow his character because he does not break out of the stereotypical bounds of his
masculine hero identity. (Napier 483) However, he is no less courageous or outstanding
than they, and it is only because of society’s limited expectations of feminine heroes that
the female characters stand out, calling attention to the problem of sexism and malefemale conflict within human society. Ashitaka, raised in a tribe with close ties to nature
and spirit, represents a human in harmony with all. He is the ideal that Miyazaki wants
us to attain.
The other protagonist in the film is the “possessed princess” herself, San. San is,
like many of Miyazaki’s female characters, notable for her strong will and independence.
(Napier 474) She is human but raised by the wolf-mother, Moro. “…San is a raging mix
of anger and aggression who in one memorable scene attempts to take on human
civilization with only the help of her two wolf “siblings.” (Napier 474) When Moro dies,
it is left to her to defend the forest from human exploitation.
Nausicaa is quite a different character from San. Her home is with people, yet
she is comfortable in the wild as well, as demonstrated by an early scene in which she lies
peacefully on her back as the toxic spores fall like snow around her. She also prefers a
peaceful solution to the conflicts that rise up over the course of the tale. There is one
except where she, in blind rage, kills the soldiers who murdered her father, Lord Jhil.
This scene however, serves to establish the human imperfection of Nausicaa and
emphasize her strong determination and ability, rather than to destabilize her character as
a role model in the quest for harmony.
Blocking the heroes’ goals are some very human antagonists. Unlike the onedimensional villains of Disney, the antagonists of Princess Mononoke and arguably
those of Nausicaa are more complex in their ideals, and often not even villains. Eboshi,
for example, is a woman who cares for other people deeply. Rather than driven by profit
and power to destroy the forest, she seeks only to help the lepers and women of Tatara
survive in a world that is as cruel to them as it is to nature. She doesn’t view nature as an
equal and therefore has no qualms about laying waste to the countryside. (Napier 481) In
Nausicaa, Kushana, princess of Torumekia is, like Eboshi, attempting to fight the natural
world. Her motivations are less honorable. Although the interests of humanity are on her
mind, she is also taking revenge and gaining political power as she struggles against the
people of the valley and the Ohmu of the Fukai.
Both films have male antagonists as well. Both are stereotypically more selfserving and unscrupulous. The difference is that while Miyazaki is attempting to redefine
female characterization in his films, his use of male stereotypes for his villains are largely
unrelated to the sex of those characters. He is merely using the characters as
representations of those people who have no concern for others and are directly in the
way of harmonious reconciliation with the supernatural and natural elements of the
world. They are the people that jump at the opportunity to gain at the moment it is
presented, unconcerned with the consequences on a grander scale. The words of Jiko
Bou in Princess Mononoke clearly express the man’s character. “When you’re going to
kill a god, it’s best to let someone else do it for you,” he tells his men as Eboshi steps
away to shoot the shishigami.
These characters, both protagonists and antagonists are an interesting paradox in
the two films. The characters in Princess Mononoke are definitely anachronistic. The
strong-willed female running an ironworks and leading an army into battle would have
been unheard of in that period of Japan’s history. The personality of the women of
Tatara is also out of place in a story of this period, not to mention their jobs as workers in
the bellows. The characters of this twist on Japanese history represent modern society,
where changes have allowed women to be independent and racial boundaries that would
have separated Ashitaka from others in Tatara have begun to fade. (Napier 476-7)
Miyazaki’s intent is for us to see ourselves as the major players in this search for
connectedness with our spiritual and natural neighbors. This is not a story about the past,
but a modern story about our own relationship with nature.
In Nausicaa, the characters are in a quite opposite position. Here, although we
see strong female characters, there is still a definite traditional feel about these folk from
the future. The Confucian relationships of master to pupil, in Master Yupa and Nausicaa,
father to child, in Lord Jhil and Nausicaa, and friend to friend, in Asbel and Nausicaa. As
a Westerner, one would expect a liberal, progressive society of the future, where the
trapping of the old ways had moved aside for the greater ideals of equality, freedom, and
progress. Instead, we see society has taken a circular path. Once again the time of the
story is disestablished in the viewer’s subconscious. This time however, instead of a
modern story of ourselves, we have a story that places people from our past into our
future. It asks us to examine how we fit into the history that is created in the film. We
find that we are the ones that would be responsible for the destructive technology that
drives a rift in the relations of human nations of the future.
Technology itself is examined as a potential cause of disunity. A strictly human
tool in both films, the question of technology’s place in utopian world is one that is not
answered by either film. Instead, the viewers are responsible for determining the answer,
an answer that is more relevant today that any period in history. In Princess Mononoke,
the question of technology centers on Tatara, a place where iron from the stripped
mountainsides is made into weapons. However, the same place that causes the
destruction of the forest and fuels the conflicts of the story also provides a home and jobs
for the outcasts of society, as well as freedom and purpose for all the inhabitants. (Napier
479) In Nausicaa, while weapons of mass destruction are definitely condemned, other
technology, including light weapons remains in question. Do we need weapons in a
unified world? Is there a way to live with the comforts of technology without the
pollution often caused by their manufacture and use?
The question of human reconciliation with the supernatural and with nature
returns. Miyazaki hints at our place and how we can act responsibly as humans on a
planet that is not our own. At the end of Princess Mononoke, Ashitaka and San part
company. San is sure that the shishigami is dead while Ashitaka insists that he is life
itself and cannot be killed. The question remains open. (Napier 480) Miyazaki allows
for those who believe in only the physical world of man and nature. Yet, he hints at the
possibility of a spiritual world, one that may have died out, and yet, maybe is still here,
hidden. Whatever one believes, it is the choices that each character makes at the end that
gives us our task. The film relies on San and her new friend, Ashitaka, to restore the
unity between man and nature. San returns to the forest, the new guardian in the absence
of the shishigami and Moro. Miyazaki is entrusting humanity, through the human
character, San, with the task of protecting the natural world that we share with the other
inhabitants of earth. Ashitaka moves to the new Tatara, helping those whose homes have
been destroyed and livelihood lost. His is the work of peace, reconciling man with man,
man with nature, and man with life, which is the spirit of the shishigami.