Spirited Away by Shomei Kadota of Japan
Spirited Away
Shomei Kadota
Japan
I am from Fukuoka, which is in the southern part of Japan. I am interested in and exploring Japanese movie called “Spirited away” which demonstrates many characteristics of Japanese mythology, legends, and culture. “Spirit away” refers to the mysterious disappearance or death of a person that was caused by an upset god. In this film, a 10 year old girl named “Chihiro” was sitting in the back seat of her parent’s car on its way to a new home in a new town. However, they get lost and ultimately arrived at an abandoned amusement park. In this amusement park, they found a restaurant without any staff members. Her parents started to eat food in the restaurant and ended up turning into pigs magically. They tried to make Chihiro eat food, but she had a bad feeling about it and refused to eat. Later, Chihiro met the guy named “Haku” who explains that the park is actually a resort and magical bath house, where supernatural creatures seek comfort from their time spent in the spirit realm, and told her that she must work at this resort, as laziness is not permitted, to free herself and her parents.
Hayao Miyazaki, the director of the movie, is careful not to reference any of the Japanese myths, legends, and cultures directly and has not revealed what specific mythology he was inspired by for each character in “Spirited Away” but I will try my best to guess. At the beginning of this film, we see a wooden gate called a “Torii.” Entering “Torii” gates signify the entrance to a shrine of the Shinto religion, in other words, entrance to a sacred place. One of the major spiritual practices in Japan alongside Buddhism. All shrines in Japan have a “Torii” gate and it is the boundary between holy ground and the rest of the world. Although Chihiro and her family don't pass through the “Torii” in the movie, it is a clue that she will pass through another gate soon, which is the supernatural creature world. Every new year, almost all of Japanese families would visit a couple of shrines to pray and wish something for our future. This action is called “Hatsumode.” Although mainstream thinking is that “Hatsumode” should take place during the period of January 1st to 7th. Hatsumode is celebrated by some at different intervals some say it takes place on only the first day of the year, others during the first three days of the year and some say any time in January will do. WOW JAPAN, so there are no hard rules! Each shrine has different benefits, such as business success, academic success, good relationship with your loved ones, health for your family, and the list goes on. Many people choose the shrines that are close to their homes, but some people choose to go to the specific shrines that are far away because of the benefits. Praying at shrines is not the only thing that Japanese people do on New years day. The most popular thing is to buy “O-mikuji” or “Omamori”. O-mikuji are Japanese fortune-telling papers that can be found at shrines. Many Japanese people buy O-mikuji, hoping for their fortunes to be good. Omamori are Japanese amulets commonly sold at shrines, dedicated to particular Kami (god) as well as Buddhist figures, and are said to provide various forms of luck or protection. There are a lot of different kinds of Omamori at shrines and each Omamori provides different blessings or protections. Every year, I buy Omamori and keep it in my wallet for the year, hoping that this Omamori will protect me or bring me some happiness.
Nextly, a little house for the guardian spirits called “Hokora” is shown in this film. Hokora is a miniature version of a shrine, which can be found on a streetside in Japan very often. I have seen a lot of Hokora throughout my life either while I was driving or walking to the school. Some people go there every day to pray for God and their well-beings. These tiny roadside shrines are meant to house minor Kami (god) and guardian spirits.
The story progresses around the hot spring (onsen), where Chihiro needs to work in order to get out of the supernatural creature world. Hot springs are one of the most popular and essential parts of the Japanese bathing culture. A wide range of people regardless of gender go to onsen to heal tiredness. In the movie, you will see a lot of supernatural creatures in a hot spring bath to take their dirt off or to purify themselves. Chihiro, as a worker, has to clean up their body using towels or clean the large bathtubs after supernatural creatures finish taking their bath. The concept of bathing referred to one of the Japanese traditional rituals called “Misogi.” Misogi is Japanese a purification ritual performed by cleansing the body in the river. Many of you might imagine it being like waterfall bathing in shampoo advertisements, where the flow of the waterfall is calm and birds are chirping. However, Misogi is one of the hardest rituals in Japan. People who participate in Misogi will be struck by a waterfall in the river and the waterfalls that flow out one after another make it difficult for participants to breathe. Misogi is a washing away of all defilements, a removal of all obstacles, a separation from disorder and an abstention from negative thought.
Nextly, a horned demon creature of Japanese folklore called “Namahage” (Oni) is also portrayed in this film. A ritual of throwing roasted soybeans are thrown at a member of the family playing the Oni. The person wears an oni mask, while the people throw soybeans at them and say, “Demons out and luck in.” The idea is to use soybeans to symbolize purifying the home from evil spirits and misfortune lingering from the previous year. This is the common practice in many of the Japanese households, but many people would attend shrines where this is done. It is not uncommon for adult men to dress up similar to oni to scare children into good behavior.
The guy named Kamaji, is another original character created by Hayao Miyazaki and closely resembles a Japanese folklore called “Tsuchigumo.” In the 14th century, “Tsuchigumo” appeared to people as having the face of an oni and a body of a tiger. They can also change their appearance into a human-being to deceive people.
After Chihiro enters into the supernatural creatures world, she finally meets an old lady called “Yu-baba,” who is the owner of the hot spring (onsen) and the real villain in the story. The closest Japanese folklore that resembles “Yu-baba” in the story is called “Oni-baba,” a mountain witch thought to use magic and trickery to trap and eat her victims. There is a tale that “Oni-baba” would show up as a beautiful young woman around twenty years of age. When a hunter encounters her and tries to kill her by shooting, she would repel the bullets with her hands. In the story, Chihiro also meets Yu-baba’s gigantic baby called “Bo.” Bo resembles the legendary Japanese folk hero called “Kintaro.” In the tale, Kintaro was raised by the mountain witch called Yu-baba and has superhuman strength and the ability to communicate with animals.
There are many other Japanese mythology, culture, and folklore portrayed in this film and I personally enjoyed watching this film as a kid, even though some creatures are scary. This movie is the only Japanese film to win an Oscar and is still the highest-grossing film in Japan 20 years later. Before going to the U.S. almost 4 years ago, I thought that people in the U.S. would go to shrines to pray on New year's day and buy Omamori or “Omikuji just like Japanese people do. However, I realized that this is the Japanese culture. Hatsumode, Misogi, Omamori, and Omikuji are something that all Japanese people would grow up with and are taught from a very young age. The mythology, culture, and folklore I mentioned by using the movie called “Spirited Away” are the representation of me and make me become who I am as a person and this will never change. I hope people outside of Japan would learn more about Japanese culture.
Works Cited
Nomura. “How to Experience Hatsumode in Japan During New Year's.” WOW! JAPAN, WOW! JAPAN, 22 Feb. 2017, wow-j.com/en/Allguides/other/tips_manners/00674_en/.
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