Princess Mononoke: Miyazaki's Epic Vision of Nature and Humanity

Princess Mononoke: Miyazaki's Most Demanding Film

There's a version of the Ghibli origin story in which Spirited Away is the studio's masterpiece. But among people who've spent serious time with the catalogue, the argument for Princess Mononoke is often stronger. It's the film Miyazaki made when he had the resources, the audience, and the freedom to do exactly what he wanted, and what he wanted was something that refused to comfort anyone.

Released in 1997, it was the highest-grossing Japanese film of all time at release. Its story - Ashitaka, a young prince cursed after defending his village, travelling west into a conflict between Iron Town and the forest gods it's destroying - is structured as epic but functions as argument. Every character represents a position the film takes seriously. None of them wins cleanly.

A film with no villains - and why that's harder than it sounds

Miyazaki has been explicit about this. Lady Eboshi destroys ancient forest, yes. She also provides shelter to lepers, to women who were sold into brothels, to people who had no other refuge. Her iron production creates weapons that kill forest gods. It also produces the steel that keeps her people alive. The film forces the audience to hold both of these facts at the same time without resolving them.

San wants to kill Eboshi and would probably do it if she could. She was abandoned in the forest as an infant and raised by wolf gods. Her hatred of humans is entirely comprehensible. The film doesn't ask you to condemn her for it.

Ashitaka as the film's structural device

Ashitaka is one of Miyazaki's most unusual protagonists because he is defined not by what he wants but by what he refuses to do. He refuses to choose between San and Eboshi. He refuses to allow his curse to make the choice for him. The arm that carries the demon's mark keeps trying to kill on its own; he keeps restraining it. His project throughout is essentially impossible - to see clearly in a situation designed to produce blindness - and the film ends not with success but with a kind of continuing effort.

The forest spirits and their visual origins

The kodama - small white tree spirits that rattle and turn their heads - are among the most unexpected and memorable creations in the film. Visually, they reference traditional Japanese beliefs about spirits inhabiting old trees, but Miyazaki's design is distinctly his own: expressionless, identical, slightly unnerving. Their presence indicates forest health; when they begin to disappear from an area, something is dying.

The Great Forest Spirit - part deer, part godlike presence, holder of life and death in a single form - transforms at night into the Nightwalker, a vast luminous giant that touches things and they grow and then die. It's one of the most awe-inspiring sequences in Ghibli's output, and it establishes the film's central point: that nature's power is not simply benevolent but is indifferent to human categories of good and bad.

What the film asks of you

Princess Mononoke is rated PG-13 for a reason. People die, limbs are severed, the violence of industrial process and ecological destruction is shown without softening. This is deliberate. Miyazaki wanted a film that took seriously the cost of the conflict it was depicting, rather than abstracting it into adventure.

For officially licensed Princess Mononoke merchandise including puzzles, pin badges, and artbooks, browse our Ghibli gifts collection. The 1000-piece Mononoke poster puzzle is one of the more visually striking builds in our range. Our complete Ghibli history gives broader context on where this film sits in the studio's development.