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Niskanen, Eija. "Deer Gods, Nativism and History: Mythical and Archaeological Layers in Princess Mononoke." Princess Mononoke: Understanding Studio Ghibli’s Monster Princess. By Rayna Denison. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2017. 41–56. Bloomsbury Collections. Web. 8 Oct. 2021. <http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781501329753.ch-002>. Downloaded from Bloomsbury Collections, www.bloomsburycollections.com, 8 October 2021, 10:51 UTC. Copyright © Rayna Denison 2018. Released under a CC BY-NC-ND licence (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/). You may share this work for non-commercial purposes only, provided you give attribution to the copyright holder and the publisher, and provide a link to the Creative Commons licence. 41 Chapter 2 D EER GODS, NATIVISM AND HISTORY: MYTHICAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL LAYERS IN PRINCESS MONONOKE E i j a N i s k a n e n I n Mononokehime ( Princess Mononoke , 1997) Hayao Miyazaki depicts the main character, Prince Ashitaka, as a son of the Emishi nation, one of Japan’s van- ished native tribes, who inhabited West- Northern Japan before the Eastern- Southern Yamato nation took control, starting in the area that is now the basis for modern Japan before claiming the entire country. Emishi, similar to the other native tribes of Northern Japan are oft en seen as non- civilized barbar- ians as opposed to the Yamato race. 1 Th ough Princess Mononoke is set in the Muromachi period (1333– 1573), when the Yamato society had conquered all the Northern tribes, the strong Emishi village of Princess Mononoke recalls Japan’s pre- historic times. In the fi lm’s settings and details one can fi nd numer- ous examples of Miyazaki’s interest in anthropology, archaeology, Shint ō and nativism. It also features multiple layers of historical, archaeological and myth- ical references. I argue in this chapter that Miyazaki uses these to discuss the building of what we know as Japan, and to discuss the complicated issue of human- nature relationships. Studio Ghibli fi lms are oft en noted for their ecological messages: Jonathan Clements and Helen MacCarthy note how Princess Mononoke ‘is the ultimate prequel to Studio Ghibli’s ecological concerns in fi lms such as Nausicaa and Pom poko ,’ 2 and for the Studio Ghibli co- produced Th e Red Turtle by Micha ë l Dudok de Wit (2016) the Guardian reviewer says: ‘Dudok de Wit has con- jured a story that combines Ghibli’s familiar ecological themes – with a nar- rative attuned to European sensibilities.’ 3 Th ey are also praised for the way in which defi nitions of ‘good’ and ‘evil’ are discussed with great nuance, add- ing to the multilayered interpretation of the fi lms. For example, Susan Napier writes: ‘Many consider Studio Ghibli’s major off erings to the society to be pre- cisely the lack of a clear- cut vision of “good” versus “evil” ’ and notes how her students compare Ghibli worlds to the more clear- cut binaries of Disney fi lms. 4 In the following, I look at these ecological issues in the light of Miyazaki’s 99781501329760_pi-220.indd781501329760_pi-220.indd 4411 111/1/20171/1/2017 44:21:05:21:05 PPMM 42 42 Eija Niskanen interest in Japan’s history, archaeology and notions of the origin of the nation. As primary sources I use the fi lm Princess Mononoke itself, as well as the writ- ings and interviews in which Miyazaki discusses these issues. In the fi lm these issues are tied around the easily recognizable ecological theme, and they add to its layered complexity. Princess Mononoke ’s brilliance as an animated feature lies exactly in these layers of message: it can be seen as an exciting and skilfully animated (and composed, as Joe Hisaishi’s score adds to the enjoyment of the fi lm) historical/ fantasy adventure, but the layers Miyazaki and his staff have craft ed allow for multiple viewings of the fi lm, and attract diff erent interpreta- tions of the fi lm. As my approach to the fi lm is based on fi lm and animation studies, I do not claim to be a specialist on the archaeology or religions in Japan, but rely on experts in these fi elds to highlight aspects of the fi lm. Miyazaki is himself a keen historian with huge interest in anything relating to the history and ecol- ogy of Japan and does not rely on exact scientifi c information in his fi lms, but claims to use them ‘for the fun of mixing diff erent elements’, as he has said in interview. 5 M y fi nal intention is to show how Princess Mononoke compli- cates the issues of ecology, nature, society and the history of Japan. I argue that while doing so Princess Mononoke deconstructs myths from Japanese history and about its cultural homogeneity, especially critiquing how these myths are depicted in popular culture, such as period drama (jidaigeki ) fi lms. Th e Emishi Nation Ashitaka and his tribe are established in the fi lm as Emishi, the Northern tribe of Japan’s main island, Honsh ū , who resisted the Yamato Emperor during the subjugation campaign by the Nara- based Imperial court between 744 and 811, but even aft er that suppression eff ort a large part of the Emishi’s land was still not under the Imperial control. 6 Th e subjugation process, besides periodic war- fare, included settlement of Yamato posts in the Northern region, resettlement of Yamato people in the area and the recruitment of some Emishi leaders to serve the court. Occasionally, though, the Emishi, although smaller in num- bers, were successful in conducting a type of guerrilla warfare against the army formations of the Yamato. As a consequence of these mixed tactics of acqui- escence and resistance, the last tribes of Emishi did survive for a considerable length of a time, some tribes by co- operating with the Yamato rulers, some by maintaining a half- distanced independence far away from the emerging cen- tre of Yamato power. 7 In some scholarly interpretations of Japanese history, the current native Ainu tribes, tribes that inhabit northern regions of Japan in Hokkaido, are claimed to be a continuance of, or at least liminally related to the Emishi. As this suggests, individual Emishi villages existed for centuries in semi- independence and local rulers, such as the Abe and Fujiwara, emerged. 8 99781501329760_pi-220.indd781501329760_pi-220.indd 4422 111/1/20171/1/2017 44:21:05:21:05 PPMM 43 Deer Gods, Nativism and History 43 Princess Mononoke , placed in the Muromachi period happens well aft er the subjugation wars in a period when the Emishi had been integrated into the Yamato; but, at least in Miyazaki’s imagination, remote independent Emishi villages remained. Th ese tribes were seen as both culturally and physically distinct from the Yamato, who came to dominate Japan. Th e Emishi were referred to as ‘hairy people’ or ‘barbarians.’ 9 In classic writings and Imperial orders, interest- ingly, Emishi were oft en described with animal- like qualities: ‘In ascending mountains they are like fl ying birds: in going through the grass they are like fl eet quadrupeds’ (quoting Nihon Shoki ). 10 Th is may help to explain the way Ashitaka’s journey to the Shishigami ’s forest is depicted in Princess Mononoke, wherein Ashitaka and his steed Yakul tend to move more swift ly and smoothly through the natural environment than those around them. Friday quotes an Imperial Edict from 780: ‘Th ese [Emishi] are like wild- hearted wolf cubs’, underlining the Emishi as a people seen as part of nature, rather than of the Yamato race.11 Miyazaki’s blending of historical tropes can be seen in this quo- tation. It is notable that the character described closest to animals is San, the girl raised by the wolves, although she is not Emishi. Miyazaki uses this blend- ing to create areas of overlap between the worlds of his central protagonists, Ashitaka and San, suggesting sympathetic, overlapping historical origins for the two characters. Miyazaki’s attention to the Emishi nation also goes beyond characterization. Princess Mononoke opens with the villagers realizing that something odd is going on: the birds and animals of the surrounding wood have quieted. A wild boar is approaching the village. Prince Ashitaka, the main character of the fi lm, rushes to the village tower and studies the scenery with a village elder. Th e tower, constructed of lengths of wood that support a series of platforms, enables the two characters to see out over the dense forest landscape surrounding the village ( Figure 2.1 ). Th e tower is signifi cant because it is reminiscent of the tower from a J ō mon period (14,000– 300 BC ) settlement at the Sannaimaruyama Iseki archaeological site in Aomori, Northern Japan, which has been rebuilt on the remains of the original tower (see Figure 2.2 ). Th e Sannaimaruyama archaeological site, important in the later study of J ō mon people and culture from between 12,000 and 2,300 years ago, was discovered by accident in 1992, when a baseball fi eld was planned to be built on the site. It has become both an important archaeological excavation site, as well as a well- known tourist attraction. 12 Th ere is no exact knowledge about what the original tower looked like, due to the age of the site and the limited archaeological remains, but the reconstruction was based on archaeologists’ and anthropologists’ assessments about how the tower would most likely have looked. 13 Miyazaki, a keen amateur researcher of Japan’s history and archaeology, has visited the Sannaimaruyama Iseki archaeological site himself, and animators from Studio Ghibli also made sketches for the Emishi village backgrounds 99781501329760_pi-220.indd781501329760_pi-220.indd 4433 111/1/20171/1/2017 44:21:05:21:05 PPMM 44 44 Eija Niskanen Figure 2.1 Th e Emishi tower in Princess Mononoke .

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