# Princess Mononoke

Mononoke-hime (1997) is a Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli. English adaptation: Princess Mononoke (1997) written by Hayao Miyazaki.

## Prince Ashitaka

* "To see with eyes unclouded by hate."
* "You would do that kill the very heart of the forest."

## San/Princess Mononoke

* "Go away!"
* "I hate him! I hate all humans!"
* [furiously] "Quiet! Watch what you say, you filthy pig!"
* [annoyed, referring to Lady Eboshi] "Ugh, it's that damn woman again."
* Lord Okkoto, you must stop! They aren't your warriors, don't you understand?
* "No! I don't wanna become a demon!"
* [voice breaking] "You’re on their side. You always were".
* "Ashitaka, you mean so much to me, but I can't forgive the humans for what they've done."
* "I'm not afraid to die, and I'd do anything to get humans out of my forest"

## Lady Eboshi

* "This is my garden. None of the townspeople dare to come here."
* "Now watch closely, everyone. I'm going to show you how to kill a god. A god of life and death. The trick is not to fear him."
* "Cut off a wolf's head and it still has the power to bite."
* "The sooner we get this rice home, the sooner we'll eat! Let's move!"
* "YOU WILL DIE!"

## Moro

* "I was hoping you'd cry out in your sleep. Then I would have bitten your head off to silence you."
* "I caught her human parents defiling my forest. They threw their baby at my feet as they ran away. Instead of eating her, I raised her as my own."
* "Typical. Selfish. You think like a human."
* " Silence, boy! How dare you speak to a god like that!"
* [to the boars] "You cannot win against the humans. Their guns will destroy you all."
* "You'd risk everything on one last battle. That's just what the humans want."
* [about the Okkoto/Okkotonushi] "Don't touch him. He's no longer a god."
* "I was saving my energy to bite off that damn woman's head...but I must save San."
* "Now my poor, ugly, beautiful daughter is neither wolf, nor human. She lives with the forest, and so too will die with the forest.
* "Give me back my daughter, demon!"
* "The trees cry out as they die, but you cannot hear them. I lie here. I listen to the pain of the forest and feel the ache of the bullet in my chest, and I dream of the day I will finally crunch that gun-woman's head in my jaws."
* [to the boars] "Humans are everywhere these days. Go back to your mountain. Kill them there."
* [last words] "Ashitaka...can you save the girl you love?"

## Jigo

* "When you're going to kill a god, let someone else do your dirty work."
* "So you say you're under a curse? Well so what. So's the whole damn world."
* "Well, I give up. You just can't win against fools."
* "Relax, kid, I have bigger fish to fry. Your secret's safe with me."
* "This soup is donkey piss!"
* "Are you selling donkey piss?"
* "Kid, listen, everybody wants to have everything in life, and now I might actually get it!"

## Other

* Nago: Disgusting little creatures. Soon, all of you will feel my hate, and suffer as I have suffered.
* Wise Woman of the Emishi: You cannot alter your fate, my prince. However, you can rise to meet it if you choose.
* Kohroku: Huh...I never knew the forest god made the flowers grow.
* Kohroku: My arm, it doesn't hurt. IT'S HEALED!!! [stretches his arm and it cracks] Argh, no, it's still broken.
* Toki: You scared me half to death! Don't you 'little flower' me!
* Town's woman: You want some of our iron? Here you go! [shoots at the ground near horseman]
* Leper: [a piece of the wooden wall is removed. A cannon and a head is seen. It fires at a boat, knocking a man off and almost upsetting the boat] Ha ha. I missed. They're bringing boats across the river!
* Kaiya: [giving Ashitaka her crystal dagger] No, I want you to keep it, so you won't forget your little sister.
* Moro's Cub 1: [to a member of the Ape Tribe, who want he, his brother, and San to leave Ashitaka for them to eat] You go, before my fangs find you!
* Moro's Cub 1: [To Ashitaka] You're too slow! Get on!

## Dialogue

    Lady Eboshi: What do you plan to do? What exactly are you here for?
    Ashitaka: To see with eyes unclouded by hate.
    Lady Eboshi: "Eyes unclouded"? [laughs girlishly] That explains it. Come. I'll show you all my secrets.
    Leper: My Lady, Gosa has something to say.
    Gosa: Forgive me, my Lady, but you must not make light of the boy's strength. Young man, like you I know what rage feels like, and grief and helplessness. But you must not take your revenge on Lady Eboshi. She's the only one who saw us as human beings. We are lepers. The world hates and fears us, but she, she took us in, and washed our rotting flesh and bandaged us. [coughing]
    Leper: Gosa...
    Gosa: Life is suffering. It is hard. The world is cursed but still you find reasons to keep living. [coughing] I'm sorry...I'm making no sense.
    [In the midst of Lady Eboshi and San fighting, Ashitaka makes his way through the crowd. He then puts himself between the two, holding them apart]
    Lady Eboshi: What do you think you're doing, boy?
    Prince Ashitaka: Stay your hand. The girl's life is now mine.
    [San viciously bites Ashitaka's arm, but he feels no pain from her bite]
    Lady Eboshi: [mockingly] I'm sure she'll make a lovely wife for you.
    Ashitaka: There's a demon inside of you. It's inside both of you. [San's bite reveals the curse, causing her to recoil in horror and the mob around them to gasp in shock] Look, everyone! This is what hatred looks like! This is what it does when it catches hold of you! It's eating me alive, and very soon now it will kill me! Fear and anger only make it grow faster!
    Lady Eboshi: [annoyed] I'm getting a little bored of this curse of yours, Ashitaka. Let me just cut the damn thing OFF!
    [Eboshi tries to cut off Ashitaka's arm, but he dodges her and hits her hard in the stomach with the handle of his sword, knocking her unconscious. He then does the same thing to San knocking her unconscious and breaking up the fight]
    [Ashitaka arrives at Iron Town's main gate, carrying an unconscious San. A gate guard holds out his hand to stop him]
    Gate Guard: Sir, I can't let you pass. The gate's been ordered shut. It can't be opened.
    [Ashitaka walks past him. Two guards with rifles move to bar his path]
    Rifle Guard 1: Turn back, please.
    Rifle Guard 2: We're grateful to you for bringing those men back to us. We don't want to hurt you.
    Rifle Guard 1: Please!
    Ashitaka: I walked in through this gate this morning. Now I'm going to leave the same way. [begins to try and open the gate]
    Rifle Guard 1: Don't be a fool. It takes ten men to open this gate.
    [Slowly, but surely, Ashitaka pushes the gate open with his cursed arm]
    [After having rescued San, the wounded Ashitaka falls off his elk, and the two wolves come back to eat him, but San stops them]
    San: [to herself] His own people shot him. He's nearly dying. [then furiously] Why did you stop me from killing her? Tell me, while you are still alive.
    Ashitaka: [faintly] I did not want them to kill you. That's why.
    San: I'm not afraid to die. I'd do anything to get you humans out of my forest.
    Ashitaka: [weakly] I knew that, from the first moment I saw you.
    San: And I'm not afraid of you! I should kill you for saving her! [takes Ashitaka's sword and puts the tip of the blade inches from his throat] That woman is evil, and there's no one who can stop me from killing her!
    Ashitaka: [pleading] No. Live.
    San: That's enough! I'm not listening to you anymore! [touches the tip of the sword to Ashitaka's throat]
    Ashitaka: [on the verge of passing out] You're...beautiful.
    [San steps back, startled by what he has just said]
    Wolf: What is it, San? Want me to crunch his face off?
    Okotto: We grow small, and we grow stupid. We will be soon be nothing but squealing game that the humans hunt for their meat.
    Moro: You’d risk everything on one last battle? That just what the humans want.
    San: Why chop the trees down?
    Moro: To make them angry, which makes them stupid.
    San: Mother, I have to go. Lord Okoto is blind; I must be his eyes. Do you understand?
    Moro: Do as you must. You know, that boy wanted to share his life with you.
    San: I hate him! [buries her face into Moro's fur] I hate all humans!
    [Eboshi fires at the Shishigami. However, the gunshot seems to do almost nothing]
    Gonza: But that should have killed it!
    Lady Eboshi: He's a god, you fool. It'll take more than one shot.
    Gonza: Ha ha! We killed her!
    Lady Eboshi: You forget she is a god. It will take more than that.
    Gonza: She certainly did some damage.
    Lady Eboshi: We'll move out now.
    Gonza: But what about the men she pushed over the cliff?
    Lady Eboshi: They're dead. Let's get the living home.
    Toki: And you, Gonza, always struttin' around and throwing your weight about AFTER the danger's over! You never do a lick of work around here!
    Gonza: [resentfully] That's unfair and untrue!
    Gonza: Don't worry about her ladyship. I will be protecting her.
    Townswoman: [muttering] That's what we're worried about.
    Gonza: What?!
    Toki: Even if you were a woman, you'd still be an idiot, so there! [blows a raspberry and joins the other ladies' laughter]
    Ashitaka: After you come through the swamp, take cover by the lake until we get there.
    Townsman: Right.
    Villager: Be careful. Those riflemen with milady belonged to Jigo.
    Ashitaka: Here, take these. [he take the bow and arrow to the gate villager] Where I’m going, there won’t be of any use. [comforts Yakul] You go with them Yakul. [shouts out] Look after him!
    San: [shouts] Stay back or you die! And then this whole forest will see just what you are.
    Moro’s Cub: [howls in distance]
    San: Ashitaka?
    Okotto: [turns into a demon] I burn. There are flames growing inside of me.
    San: [yelling] You must fight it! [sobs] Don’t let yourself become a demon! Lord Okotto! [cries out]
    Ashitaka: What is it.
    San: [howls loudly in distance]
    Ashitaka: Is it San.
    Moro’s Cub: She’s in danger.
    Ashitaka: Let’s go.
    San: Even if all the trees grow back, it won't be his forest anymore. The Forest Spirit is dead.
    Ashitaka: Never. He is life itself. He isn't dead, San. He is here with us now, telling us, it's time for both of us to live.

## About Princess Mononoke

* Ashitaka is not a cheerful, worry-free boy. He is a melancholy boy who has a fate. I feel that I am that way myself, but until now, I have not made a film with such a character. Ashitaka was cursed for a very absurd reason. Sure, Ashitaka did something he should not have done - killing Tatari Gami. But there was enough reason to do so from the humans' viewpoint. Nevertheless, he received a deadly curse. I think that is similar to the lives of people today. I think this is a very absurd thing that is part of life itself.
* It's not that I wanted to make it modern. It's just that depicting Tatara Ba under the rule of men would be boring. And if I made the boss of Tatara Ba a man, he would be a manager, not a revolutionary. If it's a woman, she becomes a revolutionary, even if she is doing the same thing.
    So I didn't make them women who have to be protected by men, or women in their families. I intentionally cut them off (from such things). I think that actually there were children at Tatara Ba, but it would make things complicated if I put children there, so I didn't. Eventually, many children will be born there, but I wanted to portray Tatara Ba as not yet in such a stage.
    And not all the Tatara men are good guys. I wanted to make crowds that included disagreeable guys. "This is a disagreeable guy, so let's kill him" - I didn't make the end (to the story) like that.
* In this film, Shishi Gami is not a gentle creature who gives blessings. I depicted it as a low-ranked god. There are legends of giants, such as Didarabocchi or Daidarabou, but we don't know why they exist. So, I just decided, "it's nature's night, given form," and then, I was able to convince myself (laughs). I just thought, the creature is gathering and giving out lives during the night. So that's why I gave it different shapes during the day and the night. I just dreamed up that it is such a creature (laughs). So, it wanders from forest to forest during the night.
   * Hayao Miyazaki Miyazaki on Mononoke-hime Nausica.net (July 1997)

## External links

* Princess Mononoke quotes at the Internet Movie Database
* Princess Mononoke at Rotten Tomatoes