The interplay of religion and media in the Japanese context of .
By: Loren Humphreys
Tags: Religion, Médiá, Japanese

The interplay of religion and media in the Japanese context of “Spirited Away”. Loren Humphreys Jan 18·8 min read

Anime, “cartoon” in Japanese, measured as a product made for children’s entertainment and consumption, has become a significant aspect of Japanese popular culture, enjoyed by a vast audience. Within this significance, so has the religious aspect and nuances found throughout the canon of many anime become a field of intimate discussion. In this essay, I will be focusing on an anime called, “Spirited Away”, directed by Hayao Miyazaki. This anime has been widely viewed and praised on a global level. However, the interplay of religion and media in the Japanese context, through the representation of religion within the canon, has not been fully explored and analysed. In this paper, I will explore how, through his anime, “Spirited Away”, Miyazaki asserts a frame of ‘contemporary Shinto’ through conflating aspects of the modern world namely, popular culture — media and ideas and the incorporation of traditional Shinto religion. Miyazaki’s anime can be seen as “illustrative examples of contemporary religiosity” (Norichika 2014, 59). Through this, the idea of an implicit religious vocabulary and an explicit contemporary cultural representation and lexis in “Spirited Away” are present. What impact does this way of relaying information have on the viewer and why represent religion in this way? Secondly, I will analyse religious imagery through representations of Shinto mythology and rituals, and how the anime embeds itself into Shrine Shinto perspectives and milieu. Lastly, I will explore the contemporary relationship between nature and Japanese society, established by Miyazaki throughout “Spirited Away”.

“Spirited Away”, is the story of a young Japanese girl, Chihiro, who with her parents are relocating to a new city. Along the way, her father takes a wrong turn off, as they approach their new house. Along this dirt road, they pass many symbols relating to Shinto, an old torii leaning against a tree and clusters of small house-like shrines. The family arrives at, what looks to be, an abandoned theme park. The parents, keen to explore, set out to “take just a quick look”, however, Chihiro is apprehensive. The family ventures further into the theme park and eventually reaches an empty restaurant. There is a buffet displaying an array of food. The parents begin to divulge not paying any mind to Chihiro who refuses to join. Eventually, Chihiro decides to venture by herself and she comes upon a large building resembling an operative bathhouse. As dusk rises, a boy named Haku, orders her to leave immediately, telling her this is no place for humans. Confused, Chihiro runs to reunite with her parents but, to her horror, her parents have both transformed into pigs. She is now alone. It now appears that she has entered and is unable to leave a spirit realm. Haku comes to her aid and helps her navigate herself through this world, Chihiro is then given another name, in order to exist within this realm, Sen. She does not forget her real name and through this way she is still able to withhold her humanity. Eventually, she is able to leave, after passing one more test, identifying her parents, out of a sounder of swine. She realises that her parents are not amongst any and is reunited with them. Her parents have been worried about her whereabouts and then leave the theme park. Returning back to their car, covered with dust and leaves, the parents are puzzled thinking that someone staged a prank. The family gets in the car and drives to their new home.

Throughout the anime, we become aware of discrete appearances of Shinto. There are “many folks and Shrine Shinto perspectives embedded in the cultural vocabulary of this film” (Boyd & Nishimura 2016, 3). From the outset, we are introduced to torii and the cluster of house-like shrines. it is Chihiro who notices and is most sensitive to these symbols. The parents are oblivious of the symbols and pay no attention to all the questions Chihiro asks about them, as they venture along the dirt road. This communicates that not only does Miyazaki conflate traditions of Shinto and media into one realm, but also illustrates the actuality of Japanese modern society. According to Miyazaki, Japanese society, especially young individuals are losing and becoming more and more out of touch with the rich history of Japanese traditions. “It is a poor idea to push all the traditional things into a small folk-culture world”, and that, “children are more and more losing their roots. We must inform them of the richness of our traditions” (Reider 2005, 8). Central to the influence of this anime “is his (Miyazaki) use of religious elements (that) also plays an important part” (Jiang 2014, 9) in the representation of interplay between and within anime and religion. This is due, partly, to the secularization of religion in Japanese society. Religious traditions are involved in most facets of Japanese society, however, the preferred acknowledging this is to note it as “tradition and not a religion” (Mousavi 2013, 152).

Miyazaki not only conflates religion and media but also, his assertion of Shinto as being contemporary. “Miyazaki is reaffirming aspects of the Japanese tradition preserved in Shinto thought and practice that can serve as transformative sources of confidence and renewal for both the young and old” (Boyd & Nishimura 2016, 14). Shinto, is one of Japan’s oldest religions and is innate to and oriented towards Japanese society. “The mythologies and histories (of) the first two books in Japanese history, were created and written down in the early 8th century by the royal family” (Jiang 2014, 11). The ancientness of Shinto is what makes the mediation or aptitude of the religion to undergo a form of modernization, really interesting. For example, the ability of other religions worldwide to still be woven into the fabric of Hollywood popular culture is quite rare. It either is assigned to the character as part of who that specific character is, rather than it being the central theme. Miyazaki’s, use of Shinto throughout “Spirited Away’s” fabric, shows the interest to represent the authenticity of his religious beliefs as well as to encourage religious and moral ethics. The utilization of religious capabilities and capacities through concepts and imagery enhances the visual attractiveness and makes sense of the narrative of “Spirited Away” (Mousavi 2013, 156).

The merging of the worlds, kami, and human is the most explicit religious theme within this anime. “Spirited Away”, is set predominantly within the milieu of the spirit realm. This implicit nature shows how intricately Shinto is woven into the fabric of this anime. This shows how it is embedded into Shinto tradition; how the essence of Japanese devotion to kami, shrines and carious rituals is being echoed not only through the narration of the anime, but one come across Miyazaki’s voice too. In a Press Only “Q&A” held in the US, Miyazaki mentioned that “My feeling is that I have a very warm appreciation for the various, very humble rural Shinto rituals that continue to this day through rural Japan. Especially one ritual that takes place on the solstice when villagers call forth all of the local Gods and invite them to bathe in their baths” (Vallen & Thorpe 2002).

Another visual interpretation is the presence of the torii. A gate-like structure, that “indicates and separates the sacred from the mundane world” (JAANUS 2001). A torii is religiously significant and symbolic through Asian cultures. Its placement is usually appearing in front of or, as the case in “Spirited Away”, a few meters away from a religious building and spiritual realms. According to Boyd & Nishimura, “a torii marks a place of superior potency that can affect changes in one’s life” (2016, 6). It the who notices and is the most sensitive towards these symbols whose life changes, this is Chihiro. It is not only through her inquisitiveness but also, her being a body representing childlike pureness. Children, like Chihiro, are still ‘protected’ from the evils of the mundane and are not capable of full comprehension. So, Chihiro embodies, to an extent, one who not yet formed into an adult or new persona. She is still pure aesthetically and has a cheerful heart and mind (Kokoro). So, it is Chihiro, who benefits from kami by experiences and living in the spiritual bathhouse.

Nature, central to Shinto and is strongly reflected throughout “Spirited Away” both implicitly as well as explicitly. One aspect of nature in Spirited Away, particularly interesting is the parlance of the wind. Implicit at the beginning of the anime, in the car and then explicitly, when you feel the wind, pushing the family, especially Chihiro, into the tunnel leading them through into the spirit realm. Again, the wind helping unbinds Chihiro legs when she is trying to escape. This revealing way of engaging with human beings is characteristic of Shinto kami. Not only does wind mark the entry into other worlds (Ho 2017) but it also, displays the notion of dependence humans have on nature and vice versa. So, in order to survive in the human realm, we as human are in constant need and support of nature. And too, for nature to survive it is in constant need of humans help and cooperation. An aspect proving difficult in contemporary Japan, and globally. As humanity progresses, the consideration of nature declines. Distorting the fundamental traditions of Shinto.

In “Spirited Away”, Hayao Miyazaki asserts a framework that posits Shinto as a contemporary religiosity. He does so, by conflating realms of media, namely through his anime, and the incorporation of traditional Shinto. Through the asserting Shinto into the contemporary sphere of Japanese culture and society, the viewing of the specific anime becomes ritual in and throughout itself at this moment, establishing a nouveau consumption of religion. The explicit and implicit cultural elements, as well as religious imagery, shows how anime achieves this. In this essay, we looked at how the wind and torii are woven into the fabric of “Spirited Away” and the milieu it set in. Miyazaki, an artist yet, but also a teacher. “Spirited Away”, is but just one of many anime that captures the essence of Shinto tradition. It also positions itself as a teacher of religious tradition, not so much proselytization. His work illuminates new forms, junctures, and relationships between popular culture and religion, each re-forming itself, and adapting to the contemporary world.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Boyd, James W., and Nishimura, Tetsuya (2016) “Shinto Perspectives in Miyazaki’s Anime Film “Spirited Away”,” Journal of Religion & Film: Vol. 8: 3, Article 4. Available at: https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/jrf/vol8/iss3/4

Ho, J.D. 2017. “Science and Magic: Wind in Seven Hayao Miyazaki Films” The Offing Magazine, July 18. Accessed 16 October 2018. https://theoffingmag.com/enumerate/science-magic-wind-seven-hayao-miyazaki-films/

Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users System. 2001. “torii 鳥居”. Accessed October 16. http://www.aisf.or.jp/~jaanus/deta/t/torii.htm

Jiang, Yuxin. 2014. “The Power of Religion in Anime: Hayao Miyazaki’s Methods of Persuasion in My Neighbour Totoro.” Thesis, Bryn Mawr College.

Mousavi, Saeedeh. 2013. “Entertaining Religious Ideas in Animation through the Study of Religious Elements in Japanese Anime”. 同志社グローバル・スタディーズ 4:145–166. Accessed: October 25, 2018. Doi: /10.14988/pa.2017.0000013516

Norichika, Horie. 2014. “REVIEW: Jolyon Baraka Thomas, Drawing on Tradition: Manga, Anime, and Religion in Contemporary Japan”. Religious Studies in Japan. 2: 59–63. http://jpars.org/online/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/RSJ_2014_Horie.pdf

Reider, Noriko T. “ Spirited Away”: Film of the Fantastic and Evolving Japanese Folk Symbols.” Film Criticism 29, no. 3 (2005): 4–27. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44019178.

The Black Moon. 2002. “SPIRITED AWAY, MIYAZAKI AT THE HOLLYWOOD PREMIERE”. Accessed 15 October. http://www.theblackmoon.com/Deadmoon/spiritedaway.html