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Princess Mononoke

Princess Mononoke is a Japanese animated movie by Hayao Miyazaki that was first released in Japan in 1997 and in the U.S. in 1999.

Mononoke became the highest grossing movie in Japan until Titanic took over the spot several months later. Overall, Mononoke is the third most popular anime movie in Japan, next to 2001's Spirited Away and 2004's Howl's Moving Castle, both also by Miyazaki.

It is a jidaigeki (period drama of the Edo era) set in the late Muromachi period, and centers on the struggle between the supernatural guardians of a forest and the humans who need its resources, as seen by the outsider Ashitaka. "Mononoke" is not a name but a general term in Japanese for a spirit/god/monster of the natural world.

Background

Ashitaka is the last Emishi prince who saves his village from an assault by a demon. After killing the demon, Ashitaka finds out that the demon was the Boar God Nago suffering under a curse. Having received a demon mark on his right arm during his battle with Nago, Ashitaka is cursed by the Boar God's hatred and pain. However, after consulting the shamanistic wise woman of the village, it is found that a lump of metal was in Nago's corpse and was likely the source of the curse. Though currently limited to just his arm, the curse will eventually spread throughout Ashitaka's body, and then Ashitaka will die. The curse is a double-edged sword; should Ashitaka experience any rage or hatred, he gains immense strength and fortitude, but the curse will spread faster. Whenever this happens, the curse will manifest itself as writhing purplish-black tendrils floating around the arm, similar to the ones Nago had.

Ashitaka sets out from his home to head to lands to the West, where Nago originated. During his travels, he will seek a cure. In order to do so, the wise woman warns him, he must "see with eyes unclouded by hate." By accepting this mission, Ashitaka also accepts exile from his homeland. He sets out with only Yakul, his loyal red elk which he rides in place of a horse. Since it was considered taboo to see off one who is banished, only one person dared to say goodbye to Ashitaka: his 'little sister,' Kaya (according to Miyazaki, actually his bride-to-be; calling herself his 'little sister' was a term of affection), who gives him her crystal dagger so that he would not forget her.

Journey to Irontown

As Ashitaka travels westward, he encounters a group of samurai slaughtering defenseless villagers. Angered by such injustice, Ashitaka attempts to restrain the samurai with his bow and arrow, but his anger activates the heretofore latent forces of Nago's curse, which imbues his arm with supernatural strength. Although he meant only to scare the samurai away, the curse makes him fire his arrow with such force and accuracy that it cuts off both arms of one samurai and decapitates another. Afterward, Ashitaka discovers that the curse has spread further on his arm, growing bigger.

At the next town, he meets a strange monk, Jigo, who was saved by Ashitaka during the attack. Ashitaka shows Jigo the iron bullet that was in Nago, and Jigo tells him that he may be able to find some answers at a place called Irontown.

Meanwhile, a pack of wolf gods assaults a wagon train transporting rice to Irontown. One of the wolves attacking the train is ridden by a human girl, Princess Mononoke, or the Princess of the Spirits. The wolf goddess Moro, mother of the other two wolf gods, is shot by Lady Eboshi, the leader of Irontown, and falls off a cliff.

On his way to Irontown, Ashitaka passes by the wreckage and remains of those who fell down the cliff in the battle, including a nearly comatose soldier and a wounded cattle herder. Ashitaka also sees Princess Mononoke sucking the blood from the wound of Moro in an attempt to purify the wound and remove any infection from the site. He tries to talk to her, but she just tells him to "go away."

Several kodama, or tree spirits, appear and, having been asked by Ashitaka for help getting through the forest, lead him and the wounded men to Irontown.

Irontown

At Irontown, Ashitaka has the opportunity to meet Lady Eboshi, who explains much of the plotline to him. There is a great war between Irontown, which cuts down the forest in order to mine the mountain's iron, and the Mononoke (or forest spirits), whom the humans weaken or kill by destroying their habitat. In this war, there was a great battle against the Boar clan, during which Nago sustained his evil wound from Eboshi's gunmen. Ashitaka is naturally angered by Eboshi's wanton destruction, especially since it has cost him so much. However, he finds that she has created in Irontown a community in which social outcasts, such as lepers and former prostitutes, are treated equally. Only by continuing to create iron can the haven survive.

San, the Princess Mononoke, has tried several times to assassinate Lady Eboshi, since Irontown will probably fall apart without her leadership. Ashitaka witnesses such an attack that night, when San enters Irontown and engages Eboshi in a duel. Ashitaka, however, realizes that the duel is a trap that the townspeople have set for San and becomes angered at San's predicament. He stops the two women from fighting and says that he is going to take San, unconscious, back to the forest. As he leaves, one woman accidentally shoots Ashitaka with her gun, but he continues out of the town, almost unfazed. He uses his cursed arm to push open the town gate (which normally requires the strength of ten people) and leaves Irontown on Yakul.

In the forest

As Ashitaka is riding from Irontown on Yakul, with San as a passenger, he loses the strength bestowed by the curse, and falls off of Yakul. The two wolves who are San's "brothers" immediately want to eat Ashitaka, but San stops them. She senses that Ashitaka is dying, and is confused as to why a human would fight on her side, and furious that Ashitaka interfered in her chance to kill Eboshi. San demands that Ashitaka explain himself, to which he simply responds that he wanted her to live. This only enrages her further, as she considers herself a wolf, and is ready to die for her cause. As she is about to deliver a killing blow, Ashitaka startles her by telling her she is beautiful, before falling unconscious due to his wounds. A group of Apes then appear, telling San to leave the human so that they may eat Ashitaka to posses his strength, so they can rid the forest of the humans, but she refuses.

Touched by his compassion, San takes Ashitaka into the forest to a sacred pond deep within the heart of the forest. There, she lays him on an island in the center of the lake, plants a plant next to Ashitaka's body, as an offering. She then tries to set Yakul free, but the elk refuses to leave, and San departs to allow Shishigami, the Forest Spirit, to arrive in solitude and decide Ashitaka's fate. Shishigami heals Ashitaka's bullet wound with a touch of its lips, but does not remove the curse.

The next day, Boar God Okkotonushi and his herd arrived at Shishigami's forest after months of travelling. Their mission is to kill all the humans and thus protect the forest of Shishigami, or die trying, picking up where Nago left off.

After healing fully, Ashitaka was told by Moro to leave the forest or be killed. Moro despises humans, but not with the unrelenting passion of San.

The war

Ashitaka tries to mediate the conflict between man and the creatures of the forest. Ashitaka cares for San, and shares her concern for the forest's welfare, but he has also come to sympathize with the people of Irontown. He sees Eboshi and San as two people who are blinded by their hatred for one another, and wants to find a solution that will please both sides. However, he fails, and thus the war begins.

The war is three-way. A powerful samurai lord, Asano, has led troops to attack Irontown, demanding half of all the town's iron. Meanwhile, Okkotonushi's attack force prepares its own war. Eboshi realizes that the ones most feared are humans, not beasts or gods, for humans are capable of treachery and their weapons are much more powerful than claws or teeth. Eboshi leads the Jibashiri, the emperor's agents who arrived with the manipulative monk Jigo, as well as the ishibiya troops to fight the boars and kill Shishigami. The Emperor believes that the Forest Spirit's head will grant him immortality and will pay a mountain of gold for it. Eboshi leaves the women to defend Irontown, knowing that they are strong enough to hold their own. Eboshi does this partly because she knew the men were powerful hunters, but also because she knew they would likely betray her after their task was over.

The boars, despite their huge numbers, are no match for the humans' mines and ishibiya. Only Okkotonushi, fatally wounded, is still alive. In order to kill Shishigami, the Jibashiri skin the dead boars for use as disguises to confuse Okkotonushi, who is blind. When Okkotonushi senses the "ghost boars," he thinks his warriors have returned from the dead, and wants Shishigami to revive them. Before Okkotonushi can reach the island, the Jibashiri attempt to finish Okkotonushi off, which causes his rage to engulf him. Okkotonushi turns into a full demon, with many red tendrils of burning hate seeping through his skin. San tries to push the tendrils off of Okkotonushi, but a hunter with a sling knocks San unconscious. San is engulfed by the red tendrils as Lord Okkotonushi plows towards the sacred lake.

Ashitaka senses that San is in trouble. With one of San's brother wolves, rescued from the battlefield, Ashitaka delves into the forest to find San. Along the way, Ashitaka attempts to tell Lady Eboshi about the attack on Irontown. Eboshi's men have already gone back, but Eboshi continues to hunt Shishigami. By the time Ashitaka gets to San, Okkotonushi has already reached the sacred island. Ashitaka tries to reach through the red tendrils to save San, but cannot reach her, and Lord Okkotonushi throws Ashitaka off into the pond. Moro, who was unconscious from the progress of infection caused by the ishibiya rifle wound she earlier received, awakens, and rushes towards Okkotonushi, demanding her daughter's return. Moro is able to dig San out, but is infected by the curse upon Okkotonushi while doing so. Ashitaka takes San from Moro's mouth, and rushes San into the water to clean the tendrils off of her body.

Shishigami's attack

Shishigami, the Great Forest Spirit, finally arrives. Eboshi, having arrived at the pond clearing, attempts to kill Shishigami with her gun, but Shishigami continues on, ignoring the wound. Okkotonushi, despite being blind, half-mad, and without much of a sense of smell, still is able to sense Shishigami. When Shishigami reaches Okkotonushi and Moro, Shishigami touches the nose of Okkotonushi, and the giant boar falls over, dead and at peace. Moro, succumbing to the rifle wound she got earlier, as well as her struggle with Okkotonushi, falls as well.

Eboshi rushes out once again, attempting to shoot Shishigami. Despite Ashitaka and Shishigami's attempts to stop her, Eboshi manages to shoot Shishigami in the neck just as he begins to change into the Nightwalker, and his head is severed completely. As this happens, Shishigami's body sends out a black ooze, which drains the life from everything in its path, trying to get its head back. With her last ounce of strength, Moro's severed head bites off Eboshi's right arm before falling into the black ooze. Jigo and his men put Shishigami's head in a box and try to run off.

Ashitaka brings Eboshi and Gonza to the island in the center of the sacred pond, escaping the Nightwalker's headless body. San wants to kill Eboshi in order to end the human threat, but Ashitaka refuses, saying that Moro has already avenged the Wolf clan. Angered, San demands that Ashitaka take Eboshi away, accusing Ashitaka of always being "on the human's side." Ashitaka then explains to San that he is human and that San is, too. San insists that she's a wolf and, out of rage, stabs Ashitaka in the chest with his crystal dagger. Taken aback at what she has just done, Ashitaka steps toward San, hugging her in his arms. Explaining that he tried to stop the men, San insists that the forest is doomed, and that "it's all over." Ashitaka refutes her point by saying that "We are still here," and that they can save the forest.

The Forest Spirit's corpse begins an ever-widening search for its head, killing much of the forest and its kodama and destroying Irontown in the process. Ultimately, San and Ashitaka force Jigo to return the Forest Spirit's head. Thus restored, the corpse's killing touch is abated, and the Nightwalker falls as the sun rises. Its disappearance is followed by a great wind, which blows out the flames consuming Irontown's remains, and sweeps away the samurai encampment. When the wind stops blowing, the surviving humans are astonished to witness the Shishigami's final gifts: a blanket of green grasses, flowers, and the shoots of new trees covering the vast empty plain that the rampage turned the forest into. The lepers among the Irontown survivors are healed of their disease, and Ashitaka is healed of his curse, though he has a few faint burn scars left.

The Irontown survivors and Lady Eboshi vow to build a new and better town where they can live in peace with the forest. Jigo quietly mocks Ashitaka and San for being fools, but is also seemingly impressed with what they have done and departs without any more fuss. San mourns the death of the Great Forest Spirit, but Ashitaka insists that Shishigami cannot truly die, as it is life itself. San returns to the wilderness, saying that though she cares for Ashitaka, she cannot forgive the humans for what they have done. Ashitaka announces that he will be staying at Irontown, but that he will come to the wilderness and visit her whenever he can.

Finally, somewhere in the ruins of the forest, a single kodama emerges from the new growth, studying a group of tiny seedlings.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Princess Mononoke".

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