Spirited Away (千と千尋の神隠し）

Saturday, April 30, 2011 12:36:03 AM

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Much like Miyazaki's other work, Tonari no Totoro, a few dark theories have circled Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi, (Spirited Away in the West).

However, unlike the darker theories for Tonari no Totoro, which, while convincing, still leave a lot of room for doubt and counterarguments, Spirited Away's 都市伝説 toshi densetsu, urban legend is a lot more credible, even blatantly obvious.

Again, it is important to stress that none of this was discovered by me. The idea to look into this came from a comment on the Totoro page by an anonymous user. The facts are pulled from various Japanese websites and even Wikipedia. As always, if you don't want your opinion of this movie to change, then don't read on.

There's no easier way to say it than to say it, but Spirited Away is a story of prostitution.

In order to save her parents who had been turned into pigs for eating food that wasn't theirs, Chihiro is forced to work in what is referred to as an 油屋 aburaya-ya, or oil house. In reality this is a portrayal of a 湯屋 yuya, an old type bath house (or hot water house). We can see this kanji in the above image as 屋湯, because in the old days a lot of places wrote backwards, mimicking an old Chinese way of writing that can still be seen in today's temples and some shrines.

Chihiro is forced to work as a 湯女 Yuna, and this word is used in the Japanese version. Despite the many (Japanese and abroad) reviews and articles written about Spirited Away, few touched on this interesting naming convention; Why is she called a Yuna?

Some dictionaries (Jim Breens, for example) will give an accurate definition of yuna - a yuna is a woman who services men at bath houses, which includes washing and sexual favours, and these were big business in the Edo period of Japan. In today's modern Japan, the bath houses of yesteryear have been replaced with the ソープランド, Soap Land, and the workers, the yuna, are now known as ソープ嬢 soopu jou.

As a direct result of the movies success and acclaim, the name Yuna suddenly became popular as a girl's given name. A lot of parents scurried to change their daughter's names upon learning what yuna meant.

Another point to lend credibility to this explanation: The patrons we see were all men, as are the 'eight million' patrons in the movie (they are all 男神 otokogami, male deities).

Chihiro is hired by the manager of the oil house, 湯婆婆 Yubaba, and is forced to adopt another name, "Sen." In the Edo period red-light district, it was common practice for prostitutes to work using a different name, something of a 'stripper name,' and most Soap Land girls take on the names of famous idols (more recently names of AKB48 idols).

So why make a story about this? Well, apparently the idea came from the producer, Suzuki. He pitched the idea as: "How about a story about a girl who can't even greet people properly working in a cabaret club? It would be like training to open her heart," to which Miyazaki replied "That's it!"

When later asked in an interview about why he chose the particular story, Miyazaki is reported to have answered:

I think the most appropriate way to symbolize the modern world is the sex industry. Hasn't Japanese society become like the sex industry?



So, unlike the dark under-story surrounding Totoro, this one has been freely admitted to by the creator himself.

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Comments

Unregistered user Monday, June 6, 2011 6:02:20 PM

Anonymous writes: Pretty sure the one about the NK is just Korea-Hate group claims. Yes, there are just as much Korea-haters in Japan as is the opposite, but I don't personally think Miyazaki was one of them. Nice analysis by the way.

Unregistered user Monday, June 13, 2011 8:18:51 PM

Anonymous writes: I'm really loving these posts (this and the Totoro one). I think these are adding great depth to the stories. Really fascinating.

Unregistered user Friday, July 22, 2011 3:26:07 AM

Anonymous writes: I do too find these interesting rather than rejections like some did on the totoro post. Jap culture is way vast than anybody thinks it is. I guess its more than complex understanding. What about the legend of "The Baron" and the fat cat named "Moon" in another Miyazaki Hayao's work, entitled "Whisper of the Heart"? can i see something about it? thanks a lot

Kilianarglborps Wednesday, August 24, 2011 2:52:48 PM

I don't know that feels somewhat far fetched. First of all in the Edo period the Yuna were very soon prohibited by the Shogunate to carry out any prostitution services (except for Yoshiwara).

Having or changing names was also utterly common in all of Japans history and by no means a clear indicator for any kind of prostitution.

When people felt a new chapter of their life started they often tended to change their names (see Takezô → Miyamoto Musashi, ingeniously using the same characters, just reading them differently just like the 千 in 千尋 (Chihiro) can be read "sen" in on-reading).

Furthermore in the Edo period most children were given a real name (諱 "imina") at birth that "real name", however, was only used by the parents or the feudal lord, anybody else addressing people by their "imina" would be simply unthinkable.

Thus everybody had a "popular name" (通称) and during their lifetime countless other names. E.g. Sakamoto Ryoma's (坂本龍馬) real name was "Sakamoto Naokage" (坂本直陰) and during his lifetime he used at least 5 (five!) other names for many purposes, some even of a quite humorous type.

Unregistered user Monday, October 17, 2011 7:34:42 AM

Michael writes: "Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi" The only thing keeping this from being a multilingual pun is the word order--she went from Chihiro to Sen, not the other way around!

Unregistered user Thursday, February 9, 2012 5:00:41 PM

Anonymous writes: I read another article that had a quote from Miyazaki saying that he wanted a movie that showed the pressures children have due to the increase in sexual content in media. I can't remember exactly what he is quoted to have said, but I'm fairly certain that prostitution, or sex in general, was always a theme. Regardless, reading articles like these kind of make me feel sad when watching the movies now. They once were so heart-warming and magical, now they seem tainted. It doesn't mean I don't still enjoy them, but it's like eating a sweet candy with a bitter core. Also, it might be more obvious and less scandalous, but Spirited Away did have a side-theme involving the damage of landscaping and how humans have such an impact on the earth (e.g. the polluted river spirit and Haku's inability to return to the river he once was the guardian of).

Unregistered user Thursday, February 9, 2012 6:20:13 PM

Anonymous writes: YOU SHOULD TRY TO DO ALL OF MIYAZAKI'S MOVIES

Unregistered user Friday, February 10, 2012 12:46:16 AM

Janine Ash writes: Make more!!!

Unregistered user Friday, February 10, 2012 1:29:19 AM

Tiana writes: this is so crazy!! PLEEEASE post something about more of Miyazaki's works!

Unregistered user Friday, February 10, 2012 2:42:14 AM

sophia writes: MY CHILDHOOD. i get what your saying but.. ITS SPIRITED AWAY.cant believe it.

Unregistered user Friday, February 10, 2012 3:39:57 AM

Anonymous writes: so when she pulls out all the stuff from the spirit in the bath, she's what? doing him

Unregistered user Friday, February 10, 2012 4:57:02 PM

Lulu writes: It's kinda funny how Spirited Away and My Nieghbor Totoro can hide so much under all those symbolic depictions. I always thought of those movies as innocent and heart-warming, but sometimes I felt that they might lack a significant amount of depth because of that. But all this information I got about them today, the stories and the facts that might or might not lie behind the phenomenically cheerful demeanor... It's AMAZING. My previous deductions of the fantstic tales might have been shuttered, but I don't think of it as cruel or disappointing... Rather than that, I find it extremely FASCINATING. The way the creator depicts an unfair world and turns the horrifying stories into such an artistic piece. The subltety of him to hide the actual meaning under a thick carpet of sugar and fairy dust, but still have the shadow remain for the careful observers to notice. Once you get to discover the truth, one way or another, it's breath-taking. You know, I think that those Japanese that think we gaijin people can't even imagine to understand their anime, manga and their art in general to the fullest, they actually have a point to a certain extent. We lack the knowledge of their myhts, their urban legends, the core of their social structure and lots of other significant pieces of their culture. It's a truth that we can't deny. But that's EXACTLY the fact that makes it so enjoyable, the trip to our seeing the hidden clues behind every piece of work. It's a meaningful journey towards understanding another country and its people and the culture behind them. That's how I see it.

Unregistered user Friday, February 10, 2012 9:56:57 PM

Casey Ham writes: Your article is not only annoying to read, but has both spelling and grammatical errors. Why bother writing an article in english if you keep throwing in katakana and hiragana? why du keep interrupting yourself with parenthetical blathering? you're writing style is choppy and tho centered around one theme, you keep shooting off in multiple directions bc, i assume, you just wrote this and posted it without reading it back to yourself. and if you did read it back to yourself, then you probably don't know how to proof-read too well.

Unregistered user Saturday, February 11, 2012 12:10:31 AM

Tenmiles writes: Well, these are interesting points, but there are a couple other interesting things to note along a different angle. First, I just wanted to point out that the female name "Yuna" appears to be far-from-uncommon in Japanese, so there's probably no current stigma over the name itself as much as the kanji used for it. What I found most interesting about Spirited Away was how I kept catching parallels to common western fairy tale motifs. They cross over water (a stream) on their way to the abandoned themepark. Crossing a body of water is often a representation of passing from the conventional world into the spirit/fairy world. It is also often a barrier which spirits themselves cannot cross, as reflected near the end when she escapes and returns to the conventional world once she goes back over tat same stream and is no longer being chased. Her parents eat food from the spirit world, without being invited to. In many western myths, this transgression always binds the person to the spirit realm. They are no longer free to leave under their own power. See also: taking anything else without permission from that realm. They are turned into animals. This is a common form of bondage to the spirit world, being transformed. Her task of identifying the transformed persons in order to save them is also mirrored by similar trials, in some western fairy tales. I had noted some other examples or parallel, but I can't remember the rest right now. So, overall, I enjoyed the film even more, when catching these things, because they were a story-telling language with which I was already familiar. I don't know whether Miyazaki's intent was to riff on western motifs deliberately, or if these same symbolism already exists in traditional eastern fairy tales too. This 'oil-house' theory gives some interesting new dimension to considering the story, but even then, I think it's no more than another kind of symbolism, and it hasn't really changed my opinion of the film at all.

Unregistered user Sunday, February 12, 2012 12:08:43 PM

H writes: @ Casey Ham : check your own spelling before you pick on people about theirs. I'm not a native speaker but I'm fairly sure the first-person pronoun singular is I and not i. I don't know of any English word spelled "du". Isn't the word "English" supposed to be spelled with a capital E? And, dude, "you're writing style", really?

Unregistered user Sunday, February 12, 2012 12:39:27 PM

Alice writes: @Casey Ham - you do realise that while you were paying out his bad spelling and grammar, you failed to check your own.. right? On a more positive note, I find these to be insanely interesting. I vote for more!

Unregistered user Monday, February 13, 2012 12:10:51 AM

Alicia writes: Another great post. These hidden meanings (even if untrue) are making me love Miyazaki's work even more. With the thought in mind that Chihiro is a sex slave, No Face is not as cute and misunderstood as I originally thought. He REALLY wanted Sen. That must be why he was throwing so much gold at her!

Unregistered user Monday, February 13, 2012 8:17:56 PM

Anonymous writes: please make more i like reading these :3 even though they are kinda... well you know... If you know what i mean

Unregistered user Monday, February 13, 2012 9:47:19 PM

Sen writes: This is sooo cool! Make more!!

Unregistered user Wednesday, February 15, 2012 11:07:32 PM

Sen writes: I am not a prostitute, I am a human being. I would never sleep with any monsters in a bath house! YUCK! I just want to go home with my parents!! :,(

Unregistered user Tuesday, March 6, 2012 10:40:33 PM

Anonymous writes: To Casey Ham It's interesting to me that you decide to bash the author's ability to write so passionately... yet you yourself write tho instead of though and bc instead of because... amusing. If this was an article about one's ability to write, you'd be right at home... but since this isn't the case, please feel free to leave your mediocre attempt to look like an intellectual out of the thread. :) In comment to the article at hand, I find it very amusing and insightful. It's a perfect example of figurative language and metaphors. We should all keep our eyes peeled for this.

sukekomashi-gaijin Wednesday, March 7, 2012 3:52:20 AM

Originally posted by anonymous:

Casey Ham writes:

Your article is not only annoying to read, but has both spelling and grammatical errors. Why bother writing an article in english if you keep throwing in katakana and hiragana? why du keep interrupting yourself with parenthetical blathering? you're writing style is choppy and tho centered around one theme, you keep shooting off in multiple directions bc, i assume, you just wrote this and posted it without reading it back to yourself. and if you did read it back to yourself, then you probably don't know how to proof-read too well.

Thank you to those sticking up for me haha up this really is one sorry person. Though on the comment about Japanese words mixed in, this website has this as a recurring theme for those who are studying the language.

Unregistered user Tuesday, March 13, 2012 1:10:40 AM

WheresMeJumper writes: Very interesting stuff, but to be honest I think it was quite explicit in the film, especially in the scene with No Face. I found that chase scene very disturbing just because of the amount of perverse sexuality in it. I mean everyone here seems surprised by the revelation but I'd have thought you'd have to really want to ignore what's going on there to not see it. It wasn't exactly like a disney villain chasing the hero, No Face desired Sen/Chihiro. Did anyone think what was going to happen if he caught her during that chase?

Unregistered user Friday, March 23, 2012 11:10:26 AM

Anonymous writes: just wanted to say epic fail to Casey Ham.

Unregistered user Tuesday, March 27, 2012 4:09:09 PM

wido writes: It's a theme of the film (among many others) and it's clear, but I wouldn't stretch it too much. It's clearly allegorical, no need to say "imagine what would have happened if No Face had caught her", "she's a sex slave" and so on. Those assertions are out of place, in the film she's not a sex-slave, that place is not a brothel and those deities are not seeking for sex. It is true however that she's alienated like she was in the described situation, but that's just an allegory. Sex industry is alienating and the Spirit World alienate Chihiro, but that doesn't mean that the Spirit World is a sexy shop. It's like saying that the bad wolf rapes Little Red Riding Hood at the end of that fable: it's wrong, however it's true that the wolf eating Little Red Hood is an allegory for a crime that a thug would commit against a helpless child. But that doesn't change the literal meaning of the fable.

Unregistered user Saturday, March 31, 2012 9:03:45 PM

Anonymous writes: I believe in the original Little Red Riding Hood, the wolf DOES rape her

Unregistered user Thursday, May 3, 2012 2:43:46 PM

G. writes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_red_riding_hood Look under "Earliest Versions". No mention of rape, but nasty nonetheless.

Unregistered user Saturday, June 2, 2012 5:13:56 PM

Anonymous writes: the story of totoro was better written...need more proof and screenshots for this one...

Unregistered user Sunday, June 10, 2012 6:02:09 PM

Anonymous writes: Wtf...this was a beautiful movie, why do you even want to think about this subject...What the fuck is wrong with people.

Unregistered user Tuesday, June 26, 2012 5:01:58 PM

angelynx-prime writes: I'm not even going to take on the rest of this: I just want to say it is awful of you to take a comment of Miyazaki's, which only says that modern Japan is too sexualized, and say it proves your theory of this movie. There's just no grounds whatever for that.

Unregistered user Tuesday, June 26, 2012 7:08:13 PM

angelynx-prime writes: Two more things: (1) it's true that yuna means "female bathhouse worker", but that's all it means; not all yuna are, or ever were, prostitutes. (2) that all the customers are male only means Sen is working on the male side of the bathhouse. Bathhouses have been segregated male-female for centuries. Also, of course, it's clear in the film that Yubaba steals names to gain magical power over their owners, which is the real reason Chihiro becomes Sen.

sukekomashi-gaijin Thursday, June 28, 2012 12:53:40 AM

It seems that I am going to have to delve further into this. For those who cannot wait, and can read Japanese, have a look at these two websites addressing the sexual side of the movie:

http://dofes.blog39.fc2.com/blog-entry-8.html

http://d.hatena.ne.jp/TomoMachi/20040314

Also, an interesting read: http://japattack.com/main/node/81

Unregistered user Monday, July 16, 2012 11:55:02 AM

Anonymous writes: Same as the Totoro thing - i'm not having it. Why do people feel the need to publish stuff like this? It's like saying hey....you know Mickey Mouse? yeah? that big Mouse? yeah the symbol of Disney and a lovable character for the world?? well the name Mickey is derived from the Latin 'Michi' which means 'to strike', and Mouse on it's own is just mouse but when combined with 'Michi' it means 'children'. So together it means 'to strike children'. It's complete bull and is really nasty for the creator and publisher. Disclaimer - i made the stuff up off the top of may head, the Mickey Mouse thing isn't true. Disney are aweseome, as is Mickey Mouse. Peace out. Additional Diclaimer - if this turns out to be true i'll print these words out and eat them and You Tube it.

sukekomashi-gaijin Monday, July 16, 2012 12:01:22 PM

That analogy is nothing like what this article is about, and you explained why yourself: there is no backing behind your claims, no evidence, anecdotal, historical or otherwise.

I'm not here to force you to believe anything, if it offends you or you disagree with it, feel free to shut your eyes and stop reading and visit the My Little Pony website for some good, family entertainment.

http://www.hasbro.com/mylittlepony/en_US/

Unregistered user Monday, July 23, 2012 6:19:55 PM

Anonymous writes: You wrote "(s)ome dictionaries (Jim Breens, for example) will give an accurate definition of yuna - a yuna is a woman who services men at bath houses, which includes washing and sexual favours." Jim Breen's dictionary: 湯女 【ゆな】 (n) (1) women who assist bathers at hot-springs resorts; (2) (arch) bathhouse prostitute This is most definitely not the same definition as you gave! You do like to twist things in favour of your theories, don't you...

sukekomashi-gaijin Tuesday, July 24, 2012 2:03:08 PM

How could I have confused "a woman who services men at bath houses" with a "bathhouse prostitute," wow I must be crazy.

You can read up about them here: http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B9%AF%E5%A5%B3

They did start out innocent enough, scrubbing the backs and washing the hair of their male patrons, true enough, but as cities became more modern, they developed into prostitutes and were subsequently, and unsuccessfully outlawed by the government of the time.

And again, not my theories.

Unregistered user Thursday, August 2, 2012 3:47:58 PM

Anonymous writes: Yubaba took everyone's name. Not just the girls. Ex. Kohaku. Weak connection to yuna's alternate names. Yubaba's yuya was for the gods, not man. Chihiro was repugnant to most of them and would never have been seen as sexually attractive. Child prostitution? I think not. All 8 million patrons were male? Citation? In the 8 million gods of Shinto, MANY including the most powerful, Amaterasu, are female. "How about a story about a girl who can't even greet people properly working in a cabaret club? It would be like training to open her heart," to which Miyazaki replied "That's it!" Citation? I'm having a VERY hard time believing your claims. The stories basic premise and situations don't add up close enough to be completely related to prostitution, let alone child prostitution. Slavery and the iron fists of masters? Yes. Prostitution? No.

Unregistered user Sunday, August 5, 2012 9:04:31 AM

Anonymous writes: Leave the dude alone he didn't make this stuff up, its all over the net. Its not a story of prostitution, its an allusion.

Unregistered user Monday, August 13, 2012 6:54:16 AM

Anonymous writes: my childhood life... is ruinded TT^TT

Unregistered user Wednesday, August 15, 2012 11:30:22 AM

Anonymous writes: Interesting analysis. I'm addicted to reading outrageous theroes of my favorite stories. Even if they're as "out there" as this one. :P

Unregistered user Thursday, August 23, 2012 7:48:13 PM

Anonymous writes: Geisha's also change their name and are given one upon enrolment... they are also given a sort of 'big sister' to look after them. Reminds me of that.

Unregistered user Tuesday, August 28, 2012 12:56:50 AM

Anonymous writes: This is completely grasping at straws. You can't use a quote from "an interview," take it out of context, and then twist it for your own purposes. While the Bathhouses may have (and still has) some sexual connotations, in no way are they portrayed as such in this film. They're bathing monsters, spirits, and all sorts of fanciful creatures by setting up the water. Never is there any contact. Maybe consider that some things don't have a deeper meaning? Maybe it's just a nice (albeit a tad odd) story about a girl trying to get her folks back. The only deeper meaning to the film to to respect nature and probably some crap about love.

Unregistered user Monday, September 3, 2012 9:18:51 AM

Cosmo writes: I suppose I could see Lin (stated to be a transformed weasel) as a prostitute, but it's stated that Chihiro as a human smells bad to the kami. I can't imagine them wanting to have such *close* contact with her. Given her smell, it makes more sense to read Chihiro as a scullery maid and general gofer (Yubaba did explicitly say that she was being hired "to clean" unless that's a dub-only line) than as one of the girls who actually pleasures the monsters (if any of them do). I don't think No-Face really counts for anything either way given how he's stated to be under the bathouse's pernicious magic when he's honeying up to her (also, to me the dialog in the chase scene more clearly indicates he is angry and wants to kill her, not necessarily rape her, even if he was trying to buy her "services" beforehand). Also, the fact that he just leaves to stay with Zaneba would seem to more clearly imply that he was just looking for a friend/home, not that he was a pedo-spirit randomly stalking Chihiro. Also, even if none of the visiting kami are female (unclear given that many Japanese spirits were androgynous), given human nature it's probably a pretty safe bet that lesbian sex did occur in Japanese bathhouses. So why even bring it up as a point in your favor? Ultimately, all these sexual interpretations are based on equivocal evidence *at best* and I say this even if the quote from Miyazaki is genuine ("cabaret" sounds like the result of a thorny translation issue, for one thing). Given the somewhat disturbing implications Chihiro as a sex-slave casts upon Miyazaki's character (not least of all because she's said to be based upon a nine year-old he used to know), I think it behooves us to take the most charitable and minimalistic road possible when it comes to subversive interpretations.

sukekomashi-gaijin Tuesday, September 4, 2012 12:33:05 AM

She's not an actual prostitute, it was apparently just the base for the setting.

Unregistered user Monday, September 10, 2012 9:29:33 AM

Cosmo writes: Ah, I see. Well, that makes more sense, then.

Unregistered user Sunday, September 23, 2012 5:55:39 AM

Anonymous writes: i've always wondered why no face is always saying ah ah i think he's a pervert

Unregistered user Monday, September 24, 2012 4:21:06 AM

Anonymous writes: Ah I already knew that the movie did imply something like this, I only realized from the no-face thing. At first people would've thought that no-face only wanted to be friends with Sen, which is definitely the case in the movie. However in the real world, this doesn't happen that often. The allegory is very strongly implanted and I do agree with what he's saying. It's an assumption, you can agree or disagree. It's called a critical way of looking at it.

Unregistered user Tuesday, October 16, 2012 5:01:16 AM

Anonymous writes: It makes me wonder if there are any dark meanings behind Miyazaki's recent works.

Unregistered user Friday, November 9, 2012 3:35:49 AM

Anonymous writes: I fully agree with this article. When i watched the movie for the first time, this was the first thing that came to my mind. Its not some "far-fetched" theory, I think it's pretty clear that this movie is not just a cute and innocent fairytale. People need to stop being too literal when analyzing something like this. You cant dismiss this theory by saying "She doesn't have sex in the movie so it cant be about prostitution". The scenes with No-Face made me very uncomfortable when i thought about what it was supposed to portray.

Unregistered user Wednesday, November 21, 2012 6:40:59 AM

Anonymous writes: Casey Ham writes: Your article is not only annoying to read, but has both spelling and grammatical errors. Why bother writing an article in english if you keep throwing in katakana and hiragana? why du keep interrupting yourself with parenthetical blathering? you're writing style is choppy and tho centered around one theme, you keep shooting off in multiple directions bc, i assume, you just wrote this and posted it without reading it back to yourself. and if you did read it back to yourself, then you probably don't know how to proof-read too well. - please do exactly what you've said.

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