Hayao Miyazaki

Hayao Miyazaki
Hayao Miyazaki at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con.
Born	(1941-01-05) January 5, 1941 Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan
Occupation(s)	Film director, animator, screenwriter, manga artist
Years active	1963–present
Spouse	Akemi Ōta
Children	Gorō Miyazaki Keisuke Miyazaki

Hayao Miyazaki (宮崎 駿, Miyazaki Hayao, born January 5, 1941) is a Japanese film director, animator, manga artist, producer, and screenwriter. Through a career that has spanned six decades, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a maker of anime feature films and, along with Isao Takahata, co-founded Studio Ghibli, a film and animation studio. The success of Miyazaki's films has invited comparisons with American animator Walt Disney, British animator Nick Park and American director Steven Spielberg.

Born in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Miyazaki began his animation career in 1961, when he joined Toei Animation. From there, Miyazaki worked as an in-between artist for Gulliver's Travels Beyond the Moon where he pitched his own ideas that eventually became the movie's ending. He continued to work in various roles in the animation industry over the decade until he was able to direct his first feature film Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro which was released in 1979. After the success of his next film, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, he co-founded Studio Ghibli where he continued to produce many feature films besides during a 'temporary retirement' in 1997 following Princess Mononoke.

While Miyazaki's films have long enjoyed both commercial and critical success in Japan, he remained largely unknown to the West until Miramax Films released Princess Mononoke. Princess Mononoke was the highest-grossing film in Japan—until it was eclipsed by another 1997 film, Titanic—and the first animated film to win Picture of the Year at the Japanese Academy Awards. Miyazaki returned to animation with Spirited Away. The film topped Titanic's sales at the Japanese box office, also won Picture of the Year at the Japanese Academy Awards and was the first anime film to win an American Academy Award.

Miyazaki's films often contain recurrent themes like humanity's relationship with nature and technology, and the difficulty of maintaining a pacifist ethic. The protagonists of his films are often strong, independent girls or young women. While two of his films, The Castle of Cagliostro and Castle in the Sky, involve traditional villains, his other films like Nausicaä and Princess Mononoke present morally ambiguous antagonists with redeeming qualities. He co-wrote the film The Secret World of Arrietty, released in July 2010 in Japan and February 2012 in the United States. Miyazaki's newest film The Wind Rises was released on July 20, 2013 and is planned for an international release. Miyazaki announced on September 1, 2013 that this will be his final feature-length film.

Early life

Miyazaki was born in the town of Akebono-cho in Bunkyō, Tokyo, the second of four sons born to Katsuji Miyazaki. His father was director of Miyazaki Airplane, which made rudders for A6M Zero fighter planes during World War II. During the war, when Miyazaki was only three years old, the family evacuated to Utsunomiya and later to Kanuma City where the Miyazaki Airplace factory was located. In 1947, Miyazaki began school at Utsunomiya City elementary, completing the first through third grades before his family moved back to Suginami-ku, where he completed the fourth grade at Omiya Elementary School. For fifth grade, he went to the new Eifuku Elementary School. Miyazaki graduated from Eifuku and attended Omiya Junior High. During this time, Miyazaki's mother suffered from spinal tuberculosis and was bedridden from 1947 until 1955. She spent the first few years mostly in the hospital, but was eventually able to be nursed from home. Miyazaki, aspired to be manga artist, acknowledges the influence of Osamu Tezuka, in his early works. It was a result of this influence that Miyazaki destroyed much of his early work, believing it was "bad form" to copy Tezuka's style.

After graduating from Omiya Junior High, Miyazaki attended Toyotama High School. During his third year, Miyazaki's interest in animation was sparked by the film The Tale of the White Serpent. He "fell in love" with the movie's heroine and it left a strong impression on him. As Helen McCarthy put it; "He realized the folly of trying to succeed as manga writer by echoing what was fashionable, and decided to follow his true feelings in his work even if that might seem foolish.". To become an animator, Miyazaki had to learn to draw the human figure. After graduating from Toyotama, Miyazaki attended Gakushuin University and was a member of the university's "Children's Literature research club," the "closest thing to a comics club in those days." Miyazaki graduated from Gakushuin in 1963 with degrees in political science and economics.

Animation career

Early career and Toei Animation

In April 1963, Miyazaki got a job at Toei Animation, working as an in-between artist on the anime Watchdog Bow Wow (Wanwan Chushingura). He was a leader in a labor dispute soon after his arrival, becoming chief secretary of Toei's labor union in 1964. He first gained recognition while working as an in-between artist on the Toei production Gulliver's Travels Beyond the Moon (Garibā no Uchuu Ryokō) in 1965. He found the original ending to the script unsatisfactory and pitched his own idea, which became the ending used in the final film.

In 1968 Miyazaki played an important role as chief animator, concept artist, and scene designer on Hols: Prince of the Sun, a landmark animated film directed by Isao Takahata, with whom he continued to collaborate for the next three decades. In Kimio Yabuki's Puss in Boots (1969), Miyazaki again provided key animation as well as designs, storyboards and story ideas for key scenes in the film, including the climactic chase scene. He also illustrated the manga version of Puss in Boots. The 'Puss in Boots' from that film would later have two sequels from Toei Animation, during the 1970s and he would ultimately become the studio's mascot, however Miyazaki wasn't involved with any of the sequels. Shortly thereafter, Miyazaki proposed scenes in the screenplay for Flying Phantom Ship, in which military tanks would roll into downtown Tokyo and cause mass hysteria, and was hired to storyboard and animate those scenes. In 1971, Miyazaki played a decisive role in developing structure, characters and designs for Animal Treasure Island and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (アリババと40匹の盗賊, Aribaba to Yonjūbiki no Tozuku). He also helped in the storyboarding and key animating of pivotal scenes in both films.

Miyazaki left Toei in 1971 for Mushi Production, A Pro, Nippon Animation, and TMS Entertainment where he co-directed 14 episodes of the first Lupin III series with Isao Takahata. He also worked as an animator on the World Masterpiece Theater with Takahata. The two then began pre-production on a Pippi Longstocking series and drew extensive story boards for it. However, after traveling to Sweden to conduct research for the film and meet the original author, Astrid Lindgren, permission was refused to complete the project, and it was canceled as a result.

Miyazaki conceived, wrote, designed and animated two Panda! Go, Panda! shorts which were directed by Takahata. He also directed Future Boy Conan (1978), an adaptation of the children's novel The Incredible Tide by Alexander Key. The main antagonist is the leader of the city-state of Industria who attempts to revive lost technology. The series also elaborates on the characters and events in the book, and is an early example of characterizations which recur throughout Miyazaki's later work: a girl who is in touch with nature, a warrior woman who appears menacing but is not an antagonist, and a boy who seems destined for the girl. The series also featured imaginative aircraft designs.

Breakthrough films and Spirited Away

Miyazaki left Nippon Animation in 1979 in the middle of the production of Anne of Green Gables to direct his first feature anime film The Castle of Cagliostro (1979), a Lupin III adventure film. During this time, Miyazaki also directed six episodes of Sherlock Hound, an Italian-Japanese co-production between TMS Entertainment and the television station RAI, which retold Sherlock Holmes tales using anthropomorphic animals. These episodes were first broadcast in 1984–85.

Miyazaki's next film, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (Kaze no Tani no Naushika, 1984), was an adventure film that introduced many of the themes which recur in later films: a concern with ecology and the human impact on the environment; a fascination with aircraft and flight; pacifism, including an anti-military streak; feminism; and morally ambiguous characterizations, especially among villains. Starring the voices of Sumi Shimamoto, Yōji Matsuda, Iemasa Kayumi, Gorō Naya and Yoshiko Sakakibara, this was the first film both written and directed by Miyazaki. He adapted it from his manga series of the same title, which he began writing and illustrating two years earlier, but which remained incomplete until after the film's release.

In June 1985, Miyazaki, Takahata and Tokuma Shoten chairman Yasuyoshi Tokuma organized the animation production company Studio Ghibli with funding from Tokuma Shoten. His first film with Ghibli, Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986) recounts the adventure of two orphans seeking a magical castle-island that floats in the sky; My Neighbor Totoro (Tonari no Totoro, 1988) tells of the adventure of two girls and their interaction with forest spirits; and Kiki's Delivery Service (1989), adapted from the 1985 novel of the same name by Eiko Kadono, tells the story of a small-town girl who leaves home to begin life as a witch in a big city. Miyazaki's fascination with flight is evident throughout these films, ranging from the ornithopters flown by pirates in Castle in the Sky, to the Totoro and the Cat Bus soaring through the air, and Kiki flying her broom.

In 1992, Miyazaki directed Porco Rosso, an adventure film set in the "Adriatic" during the 1920s. The film was a notable departure for Miyazaki, in that the main character was an adult male, an anti-fascist aviator transformed into an anthropomorphic pig. The film is about a titular bounty hunter, voiced by Shūichirō Moriyama, and an American soldier of fortune, voiced by Akio Ōtsuka. The film explores the tension between selfishness and duty. Porco Rosso was released on July 19, 1992. That August, Studio Ghibli set up its headquarters in Koganei, Tokyo.

In 1995, Miyazaki began work on Princess Mononoke, which uses the ecological and political themes of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. Starring Yuriko Ishida, Yōji Matsuda, Akihiro Miwa and Yūko Tanaka, the story is about a struggle between the animal spirits inhabiting the forest and the humans exploiting the forest for industry. The film was released on July 19, 1997 and was both a financial and critical success; it won the Japan Academy Prize for Best Picture. Miyazaki went into semi-retirement after directing Princess Mononoke. In working on the film, Miyazaki redrew 80,000 of the film's frames himself. He also stated at one point that "Princess Mononoke" would be his last film. Tokuma Shoten merged with Studio Ghibli that June.

During this period of semi-retirement, Miyazaki spent time with the daughters of a friend. One of these friends would become his inspiration for Miyazaki's next film which would also become his biggest commercial success to date, Spirited Away. The film stars Rumi Hiiragi, Mari Natsuki and Miyu Irino, and is the story of a girl, forced to survive in a bizarre spirit world, who works in a bathhouse for spirits after her parents are turned into pigs by the sorceress who owns it. The film was released on July 2001 and grossed ¥30.4 billion (approximately $300 million) at the box office. Critically acclaimed, the film was considered one of the best films of the 2000s. It won a Japan Academy Prize, a Golden Bear award at the 2002 Berlin Film Festival, and an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

21st century

In July 2004, Miyazaki completed production on Howl's Moving Castle, based on Diana Wynne Jones' 1986 fantasy novel of the same name. Miyazaki came out of retirement following the sudden departure of Mamoru Hosoda, the film's original director. The film premiered at the 2004 Venice International Film Festival and was later released on November 24, 2004, again to positive reviews. It won the Golden Osella award for animation technology, and received an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature.

In 2005, Miyazaki received a lifetime achievement award at the Venice Film Festival. On February 10, 2005, Studio Ghibli announced that it was ending its relationship with Tokuma Shoten. The studio moved its headquarters to Koganei, Tokyo, and acquired the copyrights of Miyazaki's works and business rights from Tokuma Shoten.

In 2006, Miyazaki's son Gorō Miyazaki completed his first film, Tales from Earthsea, starring Jun'ichi Okada and Bunta Sugawara and based on several stories by Ursula K. Le Guin. Hayao Miyazaki had long aspired to make an anime of this work and had repeatedly asked for permission from the author, Ursula K. Le Guin. However, he had been refused every time. Instead, Miyazaki produced Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and Shuna no tabi, (The Journey of Shuna) as substitutes (some of the ideas from Shuna no tabi were diverted to this movie). When Le Guin finally requested that Miyazaki produce an anime adaptation of her work, he refused, because he had lost the desire to do so. Le Guin remembers this differently: "In August 2005, Mr Toshio Suzuki of Studio Ghibli came with Mr Hayao Miyazaki to talk with me and my son (who controls the trust which owns the Earthsea copyrights). We had a pleasant visit in my house. It was explained to us that Mr Hayao wished to retire from film making, and that the family and the studio wanted Mr Hayao's son Goro, who had never made a film at all, to make this one. We were very disappointed, and also anxious, but we were given the impression, indeed assured, that the project would be always subject to Mr Hayao's approval. With this understanding, we made the agreement." Throughout the film's production, Gorō and his father were not speaking to each other, due to a dispute over whether or not Gorō was ready to direct. It was originally to be produced by Miyazaki, but he declined as he was already in the middle of producing Howl's Moving Castle. Ghibli decided to make Gorō, who had yet to head any animated films, the producer instead. Tales from Earthsea was released on July 29, 2006, to mixed reviews.

In 2006, Nausicaa.net reported Hayao Miyazaki's plans to direct another film, rumored to be set in Kobe. Among areas Miyazaki's team visited during pre-production were an old café run by an elderly couple, and the view of a city from high in the mountains. The exact location of these places was censored from Studio Ghibli's production diaries. The studio also announced that Miyazaki had begun creating storyboards for the film and that they were being produced in watercolor because the film would have an "unusual visual style." Studio Ghibli said the production time would be about 20 months, with release slated for Summer 2008.

In 2007, the film's title was publicly announced as Gake no ue no Ponyo, which was eventually retitled Ponyo for its international releases. The film stars Yuria Nara, Hiroki Doi, Tomoko Yamaguchi, Kazushige Nagashima, George Tokoro and Yūki Amami. Toshio Suzuki noted that "70 to 80% of the film takes place at sea. It will be a director's challenge on how they will express the sea and its waves with freehand drawing." Ponyo was released on July 19, 2008, to positive reviews and the film grossed $202 million worldwide.

Miyazaki later co-wrote the screenplay for Studio Ghibli's next film, Arrietty, based on Mary Norton's 1952 novel The Borrowers. The film was the directorial debut of Hiromasa Yonebayashi, a Ghibli animator. Starring Mirai Shida, Ryūnosuke Kamiki, Tomokazu Miura, Keiko Takeshita, Shinobu Otake and Kirin Kiki, the film focuses on a small family known as the Borrowers who must avoid detection when discovered by humans. The film was released on July 17, 2010, again to positive reviews, and grossed $145 million worldwide. In 2011, Miyazaki co-wrote From up on Poppy Hill, based on the 1980 manga of the same name written by Tetsurō Sayama and illustrated by Chizuru Takahashi. The film stars Masami Nagasawa, Junichi Okada, Shunsuke Kazama and Teruyuki Kagawa. Set in Yokohama, the film's story focuses on Umi Matsuzaki, a high school student who is forced to fend for herself when her sailor father goes missing from the seaside town. The film was released on July 16, 2011, once again to positive reviews.

On December 13, 2012, Studio Ghibli announced that Miyazaki worked on his next film, Kaze Tachinu, based on his manga of the same name, with plans to simultaneously release it with Kaguya-hime no Monogatari. The film stars Hideaki Anno, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Masahiko Nishimura and Miori Takimoto. Kaze Tachinu tells the story of Jiro Horikoshi, designer of the Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter aircraft which served in World War II. The film was released on July 20, 2013 and will be released in North America on February 21, 2014 by Touchstone Pictures.

On September 1, 2013, numerous Japanese television networks, including NHK, reported that Miyazaki was announcing his retirement.

Manga career

Miyazaki has illustrated several manga, beginning in 1969 with Puss in Boots (Nagagutsu wo Haita Neko). His major work in this format is the seven-volume manga version of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, which he created from 1982 to 1994 and which has sold millions of copies worldwide. Other works include Sabaku no Tami (砂漠の民, People of the Desert), Shuna no Tabi (シュナの旅, The Journey of Shuna), The Notebook of Various Images (雑想ノート, Zassō Nōto), which was the basis of Porco Rosso.

In October 2006, A Trip to Tynemouth was published in Japan. Miyazaki based it on the young adult short stories of Robert Westall, who grew up in World War II England. The most famous story, first published in a collection called Break of Dark, is titled Blackham's Wimpy, the name of a Vickers Wellington Bomber featured in the story, whose nickname comes from the character J. Wellington Wimpy from the Popeye comics and cartoons (the Wellington was named for Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, victor over Napoleon).

In early 2009, Miyazaki began writing a new manga called Kaze Tachinu (風立ちぬ, The Wind Rises), telling the story of Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter designer Jiro Horikoshi. The manga was published in two issues of the Model Graphix magazine, published on February 25 and March 25, 2009.

Following his announced retirement, it was revealed during an NHK TV broadcast that Miyazaki was serializing a currently untitled samurai manga while charging the magazine no fee for his artwork.

Personal life

In October 1965, Miyazaki married fellow animator Akemi Ota, with whom he had two sons, Gorō and Keisuke. Miyazaki's dedication to his work has often been reported to have impacted negatively on his relationship with Gorō. He has expressed he does not wish to create a dynasty of animators and his son has to create a name for himself. Nonetheless he has shown support of his son's career in animation in recent times, co-writing the screenplay for Gorō's feature From Up on Poppy Hill and is in the process of developing the story for his son's third film as of November 2011.

Recent controversy

After the release of his 2013 film Kaze Tachinu, Miyazaki has faced online criticism for his anti-war message. Online critics have taken a different view of the film, labeling it as "Anti-Japanese" and calling Miyazaki a "traitor". This is due to the film's subject; a young man who designs planes during World War II. The planes used in the film are Mitsubishi A6M Zero, known for their use as Kamikaze aircraft. Since he was young, Miyazaki has had a fascination with planes, due to his father's line of work on A6M Zero fighter planes during the Second World War. This fascination is made obvious by the reoccurring use of planes in his films; from Porco Rosso to Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. This film, however, is Miyazaki's first to be inspired by a historical figure. Despite the unexpected backlash from political viewers, Kaze Tachinu has had "the biggest opening of the year in Japan and took in 960 million yen", or $77 million.

Miyazaki has expressed his opinion on politics several times in the past, including a disapproval in the discussion of the revision of the Japanese constitution, and Senator Abe's denial of Japanese World War II crimes. Part of the controversy over Kaze Tachinu stems from his statement that proper compensation should be given to comfort women. This is not his only instance of controversy. In 2003, Miyazaki won an Oscar for his film Spirited Away. However, he did not attend the award ceremony. After 6 years, he finally stated that he did not want to go to a country which was "bombing Iraq", in reference to the ' War on Terror '. At the time, he was advised to keep his opinion to himself, most likely in fear it would affect the relationship between Studio Ghibli and Disney. He however broke his protest to the U.S. in 2009 to attend the San Diego Comic Con, as a favor to fellow animator and friend, John Lasseter, the director of multiple Pixar films.

Retirement

Miyazaki has claimed he was retiring several times, but on September 6, 2013, he assured his fans that he is 'quite serious' this time. He believes he is getting too old for the business, and wants to make room for new animators. He also says that the task of animating is "quite strenuous" and that he cannot work as long as he was once able to. However, he plans on pursuing new goals, such as working on the Studio Ghibli museum, which he commented "I might even become an exhibit myself". Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki revealed that Miyazaki will continue to illustrate manga and is currently working on a serialized samurai series. Fellow animator Isao Takahata has publicly stated that he believes Miyazaki's retirement to be non-permanent, "...I think there is a decent chance that may change. I think so, since I've known him a long time. Don't be at all surprised if that happens."

Recently, a previous home that Miyazaki spent part of his childhood in has been transformed into a museum. The home's current resident, Asuko Thomas, claims she did not know that the house has once belonged to the family of the world renowned animator. The current owner of the house has named the gallery "Hanna", meaning "bond" and "harmony". Many elements of the house have been the inspiration for scenes in several of his films. One example is the stairs in the household, very similar to the hidden stairs in My Neighbor Totoro.

Themes, influences and style

Main article: Styles and themes of Hayao Miyazaki

Miyazaki's works are characterized by the recurrence of progressive themes, such as environmentalism, pacifism, feminism, and the absence of villains. His films are also frequently concerned with childhood transition and a marked preoccupation with flight.

Miyazaki's narratives are notable for not pitting a hero against an unsympathetic antagonist. In Spirited Away, Miyazaki states "the heroine [is] thrown into a place where the good and bad dwell together. [...] She manages not because she has destroyed the 'evil', but because she has acquired the ability to survive." Even though Miyazaki sometimes feels pessimistic about the world, he prefers to show children a positive world view instead, and rejects simplistic stereotypes of good and evil.

Miyazaki's films often emphasize environmentalism and the Earth's fragility. In an interview with The New Yorker, Miyazaki claimed that much of modern culture is "thin and shallow and fake", and "not entirely jokingly" looked forward to an apocalyptic age in which "wild green grasses" take over. Growing up in the Shōwa period was an unhappy time for him because "nature – the mountains and rivers – was being destroyed in the name of economic progress." Miyazaki is critical of capitalism, globalization, and their impacts on modern life. Commenting on the 1954 Animal Farm animated film, he has said that "exploitation is not only found in communism, capitalism is a system just like that. I believe a company is common property of the people that work there. But that is a socialistic idea." Nonetheless, he suggests that adults should not "impose their vision of the world on children."

Nausicaä, Princess Mononoke and Howl's Moving Castle feature anti-war themes. In 2003, when Spirited Away won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, Miyazaki did not attend the awards show personally. He later explained that it was because he "didn't want to visit a country that was bombing Iraq".

Miyazaki has been called a feminist by Studio Ghibli President Toshio Suzuki, in reference to his attitude to female workers. This is evident in the all-female factories of Porco Rosso and Princess Mononoke, as well as the matriarchal bath-house of Spirited Away. Many of Miyazaki's films are populated by strong female protagonists that go against gender roles common in Japanese animation and fiction.

Creation process and animation style

Princess Mononoke was Miyazaki's first film to use computer graphics. In this sequence, the demon snakes are computer-generated and composited onto Ashitaka, who is hand-drawn.

Miyazaki takes a leading role when creating his films, frequently serving as both writer and director. He personally reviewed every frame used in his early films, though due to health concerns over the high workload he now delegates some of the workload to other Ghibli members. In a 1999 interview, Miyazaki said, "at this age, I cannot do the work I used to. If my staff can relieve me and I can concentrate on directing, there are still a number of movies I'd like to make."

Miyazaki uses very human-like movements in his animation. In addition, much of the art is done using water colors.

In contrast to American animation, the script and storyboards are created together, and animation begins before the story is finished and while storyboards are developing.

Miyazaki has used traditional animation throughout the animation process, though computer-generated imagery was employed starting with Princess Mononoke to give "a little boost of elegance". In an interview with the Financial Times, Miyazaki said "it's very important for me to retain the right ratio between working by hand and computer. I have learnt that balance now, how to use both and still be able to call my films 2D." Digital paint was also used for the first time in parts of Princess Mononoke in order to meet release deadlines. It was used as standard for subsequent films. However, in his 2008 film Ponyo, Miyazaki went back to traditional hand-drawn animation for everything, saying "hand drawing on paper is the fundamental of animation." Studio Ghibli's computer animation department was dissolved before production on Ponyo was started, and Miyazaki has decided to keep to hand drawn animation.

Influences

A number of Western authors have influenced Miyazaki's work, including Ursula K. Le Guin, Lewis Carroll, Edward Blishen and Diana Wynne Jones. Miyazaki confided to Le Guin that Earthsea had been a great influence on all his works, and that he kept her books at his bedside. Miyazaki and French writer and illustrator Jean Giraud (a.k.a. Moebius) have influenced each other and had become friends as a result of their mutual admiration. Monnaie de Paris held an exhibition of their work titled Miyazaki et Moebius: Deux Artistes Dont Les Dessins Prennent Vie (Two Artists’s Drawings Taking on a Life of Their Own) from December 2004 to April 2005. Both artists attended the opening of the exhibition. Moebius named his daughter Nausicaa after Miyazaki's heroine. Miyazaki has been deeply influenced by another French writer, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. He illustrated the Japanese covers of Saint-Exupéry's Night Flight (Vol de nuit) and Wind, Sand and Stars (Terre des Hommes), and wrote an afterword for Wind, Sand and Stars.

In an interview broadcast on BBC Choice on 2002-06-10, Miyazaki cited the British authors Eleanor Farjeon, Rosemary Sutcliff, and Philippa Pearce as influences. The filmmaker has also publicly expressed fondness for Roald Dahl's stories about pilots and airplanes; the image in Porco Rosso of a cloud of dead pilots was inspired by Dahl's They Shall Not Grow Old. As in Miyazaki's films, these authors create self-contained worlds in which allegory is often used, and characters have complex, and often ambiguous, motivations. Other Miyazaki works, such as My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, and Spirited Away, incorporate elements of Japanese history and mythology.

Miyazaki has said he was inspired to become an animator by The Tale of the White Serpent, considered the first modern anime, in 1958. He has also said that The Snow Queen, a Soviet animated film, was one of his earliest inspirations, and that it motivated him to stay in animation production. Yuriy Norshteyn, a Russian animator, is Miyazaki's friend and praised by him as "a great artist." Norshteyn's Hedgehog in the Fog is cited as one of Miyazaki's favourite animated films. Miyazaki has long been a fan of the Aardman Studios animation. In May 2006, David Sproxton and Peter Lord, founders of Aardman Studios, visited the Ghibli Museum exhibit dedicated to their works, where they also met Miyazaki.

Pete Docter, director of the popular films Up and Monsters, Inc. as well as a co-creator of other Pixar works, has praised Miyazaki and described him as an influence. Glen Keane, the animator for successful Disney films such as The Little Mermaid, The Rescuers Down Under, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Tangled, has also credited Miyazaki as a "huge influence" on his work and on Disney in general during the past two decades. Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino have cited Miyazaki's work as having the biggest influence on the universe and style of Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Miyazaki has also been cited as an influence on various role-playing video games. The creator of Square's Final Fantasy series, Hironobu Sakaguchi, cited Miyazaki as inspiration for elements such as the airships and chocobos featured in the series. The post-apocalyptic setting of SNK's Crystalis was inspired by Miyazaki's Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, and Crystalis in turn influenced Square's Secret of Mana.

Miyazaki has also been influenced by Akira Kurosawa. Kurosawa was successful in bringing the Western World's attention to Japanese cinematography with his 1951 film Rashomon, Seven Samurai in 1957, and Yojimbo in 1960. Another influence was Osamu Tezuka, a pioneer in new manga styles and techniques. Miyazaki even said of Princess Mononoke, 'I wish Osamu Tezuka could have watched it'.

Recurring collaborators

Among the actors that have collaborated with Miyazaki on his films, other filmmakers, writers, and producers have also collaborated with Miyazaki in multiple instances. This includes Isao Takahata, Toshio Suzuki, Hiromasa Yonebayashi, Gorō Miyazaki, Takeshi Seyama, Azumi Inoue, Youmi Kimura, Yoshifumi Kondō, Hiroyuki Morita, Kazuo Oga and Hideaki Anno. Also, music composer Joe Hisaishi has been responsible for every film score for Miyazaki's films since Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.

Actor	The Castle of Cagliostro (1979)	Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984)	Castle in the Sky (1986)	My Neighbor Totoro (1988)	Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)	Porco Rosso (1992)	Princess Mononoke (1997)	Spirited Away (2001)	Howl's Moving Castle (2004)	Ponyo (2008)	The Wind Rises (2013)
Tatsuya Gashūin								N	N
Rumi Hiiragi								N		N
Tsunehiko Kamijō						N	N	N
Ryūnosuke Kamiki								N	N
Haruko Katō					N				N
Yōji Matsuda		N					N
Akihiro Miwa							N		N
Kōhei Miyauchi	N	N
Ichirō Nagai	N	N	N
Masahiko Nishimura							N				N
Tomomichi Nishimura		N			N
Gorō Naya	N	N
Yō Ōizumi								N	N
Akio Ōtsuka					N	N			N
Shirō Saitō							N	N		N
Chika Sakamoto		N		N	N
Hiroko Seki					N	N
Sumi Shimamoto	N	N		N			N
Tarako		N	N	N

Early works

• Hols: Prince of the Sun (1968) (Key animation, storyboards, scene design)
• The Wonderful World of Puss 'n Boots (1969) (Key animation, storyboards, design)
• Flying Phantom Ship (1969) (Key animation, storyboards, design)
• Moomin (1970) (Key animation on the Mushi Production version)
• Animal Treasure Island (1971) (Story consultant, key animation, storyboards, scene design)
• Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (1971) (Organizer, key animation, storyboards)
• Lupin III Part I (1971) Anime series (with Isao Takahata)
• Yuki's Sun (1972) (Pilot film for a never-realized anime series)
• Panda! Go, Panda! (1972) (Concept, screenplay, storyboards, scene design, key animation)
• Panda! Go, Panda!: The Rainy-Day Circus (1973) (Screenplay, storyboards, scene design, art design, key animation)
• Heidi, Girl of the Alps (1974) Anime series (Scene design, layout)
• 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother (1976) Anime series (Scene design, layout)
• Future Boy Conan (1978) Anime series
• Anne of Green Gables (1979) Anime series, Episodes 1–15 (Scene design, layout)
• Lupin III Part II (1980) Anime series (2 episodes in season 4 under the pseudonym Tsutomu Teruki)
• Sherlock Hound (1984) Anime series

Filmography

Year	Title	Director	Producer	Writer	Notes
1979	The Castle of Cagliostro	Yes		Yes
1984	Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind	Yes		Yes
1986	Castle in the Sky	Yes		Yes
1988	My Neighbor Totoro	Yes		Yes
1989	Kiki's Delivery Service	Yes	Yes	Yes
1991	Only Yesterday		Yes
1992	Porco Rosso	Yes		Yes
1994	Pom Poko		Yes
1995	Whisper of the Heart		Yes	Yes
	On Your Mark	Yes			Music video
1997	Princess Mononoke	Yes		Yes
2001	Spirited Away	Yes		Yes
	Whale Hunt	Yes		Yes	Short film
2002	Koro's Big Day Out	Yes		Yes	Short film
	Mei and the Kittenbus	Yes		Yes	Short film
	Imaginary Flying Machines	Yes		Yes	Short film
	The Cat Returns		Yes
2004	Howl's Moving Castle	Yes		Yes
2006	Monmon the Water Spider	Yes	Yes	Yes	Short film
	House-hunting	Yes	Yes	Yes	Short film
	The Day I Harvested A Planet	Yes		Yes	Short film
2008	Ponyo	Yes		Yes
2010	Mr. Dough and the Egg Princess	Yes		Yes	Short film
	The Secret World of Arrietty		Yes	Yes
2011	From Up on Poppy Hill		Yes	Yes
2013	The Wind Rises	Yes		Yes

Accolades

Film

Year	Title	Award	Category	Result
1980	The Castle of Cagliostro	Mainichi Film Award	Ofuji Noburo Award	Won
1985	Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind	Fantafestival	Best Short Film	Won
		Kinema Junpo Awards	Readers' Choice Award – Best Film	Won
		Mainichi Film Award	Ofuji Noburo Award	Won
1987	Castle in the Sky	Mainichi Film Award	Ofuji Noburo Award	Won
1989	My Neighbor Totoro	Kinema Junpo Awards	Kinema Junpo Award – Best Film	Won
			Readers' Choice Award – Best Japanese Film	Won
		Mainichi Film Award	Best Film	Won
			Ofuji Noburo Award	Won
		Blue Ribbon Awards	Special Award	Won
1990	Kiki's Delivery Service	Mainichi Film Award	Best Animated Film	Won
		Kinema Junpo Awards	Readers' Choice Award – Best Japanese Film Director	Won
1993	Porco Rosso	Mainichi Film Award	Best Animated Film	Won
1997	Princess Mononoke	Hochi Film Awards	Special Award	Won
		The Association of Movie Viewing Groups	Best Japanese Movie	Won
		Nikkan Sports Film Awards	Best Director	Won
		Takasaki Film Festival	Best Director	Won
		The Agency for Cultural Affairs	Excellent Movie Award	Won
		Japan Media Arts Festival	Grand Prize	Won
		Asahi Best Ten Film Festival	Best Japanese Movie	Won
			Readers' Choice Award	Won
		Nihon Keizai Shimbun	Award for Excellency	Won
			Nikkei Awards for Excellent Products and Service	Won
		Theater Division Award	Asahi Digital Entertainment Award	Won
		MMCA Special Award	Multimedia Grand Prix 1997	Won
		Osaka Film Festival	Special Award	Won
		The Movie's Day	Special Achievement Award	Won
		Fumiko Yamaji Award	Cultural Award	Won
1998		Blue Ribbon Awards	Special Awards	Won
		Japanese Academy Awards	Picture of the Year	Won
		Kinema Junpo Awards	Readers' Choice Award – Best Film	Won
		Mainichi Film Award	Best Animated Film	Won
			Best Film	Won
			Readers' Choice Award – Best Film	Won
2000		Annie Awards	Outstanding Individual Achievement for Directing in an Animated Feature Production	Nominated
2001		Nebula Award	Best Script	Nominated
2002	Whale Hunt	Mainichi Film Award	Ofuji Noburo Award	Won
	Spirited Away	Berlin International Film Festival	Golden Berlin Bear	Won
		Blue Ribbon Award	Best Film	Won
		Nikkan Sports Film Award	Best Film	Won
		New York Film Critics Circle Award	Best Animated Film	Won
		Boston Society of Film Critics Awards	Special Commendation – For artistic contribution to the field of animation	Won
		Cambridge Film Festival	Audience Award – Best Film	Won
		National Board of Review of Motion Pictures	Best Animated Feature	Won
		Cinekid Festival	Cinekid Film Award	Won
		Durban International Film Festival	Best Film	Won
		European Film Awards	Screen International Award	Nominated
		Kinema Junpo Awards	Readers' Choice Award – Best Film	Won
		Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards	LAFCA Award	Won
		Mainichi Film Award	Best Animated Film	Won
			Best Director	Won
			Best Film	Won
			Readers' Choice Award – Best Film	Won
		San Francisco International Film Festival	Audience Award – Best Narrative Feature	Won
		Sitges Film Festival	Special Mention	Won
			Best Film	Nominated
		Tokyo Anime Award	Grand Prix	Won
			Best Director	Won
		Japanese Academy Award	Best Film	Won
		Hong Kong Film Award	Best Asian Film	Won
2003		Academy Award	Best Animated Feature	Won
		Online Film Critics Society Award	Best Animated Feature	Won
			Best Foreign Language Film	Nominated
		British Independent Film Awards	Best Foreign Independent Film	Nominated
		Saturn Award	Best Writing	Nominated
		Film Critics Circle of Australia	Best Foreign-Language Film	Won
		Chicago Film Critics Association	Best Foreign Language Film	Nominated
		Satellite Award	Best Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media	Won
		Phoenix Film Critics Society Award	Best Animated Film	Won
			Overlooked Film of the Year	Nominated
		International Horror Guild Award	Best Movie	Nominated
		Florida Film Critics Circle	Best Animation	Won
		Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award	Best Animated Film	Won
		Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival	Silver Scream Award	Won
		Annie Award	Outstanding Directing in an Animated Feature Production	Won
			Outstanding Writing in an Animated Feature Production	Won
		Cambridge Film Festival	Audience Award – Best Film	Won
		Cinema Writers Circle Awards, Spain	Best Foreign Film	Won
		César Award	Best Foreign Film	Nominated
		Hugo Award	Best Dramatic Presentation – Long Form	Nominated
		Broadcast Film Critics Association	Best Animated Feature	Won
2004		Argentinean Film Critics Association Awards	Silver Condor – Best Foreign Film	Nominated
		BAFTA Award	Best Film not in the English Language	Nominated
		London Critics Circle Film Awards	Foreign Language Film of the Year	Nominated
		Nebula Award	Best Script	Nominated
	Howl's Moving Castle	Sitges Film Festival	Audience Award – Best Feature Film	Won
			Best Film	Nominated
		Venice Film Festival	Golden Lion	Nominated
2005		Hollywood Film Festival	Hollywood Film Award – Animation of the Year	Won
		Mainichi Film Award	Readers' Choice Award – Best Film	Won
		Tokyo Anime Award	Animation of the Year	Won
		Satellite Award	Outstanding Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media	Nominated
		San Diego Film Critics Society Award	Best Animated Film	Won
		New York Film Critics Circle Awards	Best Animated Film	Won
2006		Academy Award	Best Animated Feature	Nominated
		Annie Award	Best Directing in an Animated Feature Production	Nominated
			Best Writing in an Animated Feature Production	Nominated
		Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards	Best Animated Feature	Nominated
		Online Film Critics Society Award	Best Animated Feature	Nominated
		Saturn Award	Best Animated Film	Nominated
		MTV Movie Awards Russia	Best Cartoon	Nominated
		Nastro d'Argento	Silver Ribbon – Best Foreign Director	Nominated
		Hong Kong Film Awards	Best Asian Film	Nominated
2007		Nebula Award	Best Script	Won
2008	Ponyo	Venice Film Festival	Future Film Festival Digital Award – Special Mention	Won
			Mimmo Rotella Foundation Award	Won
			Golden Lion	Nominated
2009		Asian Film Award	Best Director	Nominated
		Japanese Academy Award	Best Animation Film	Won
		Chicago Film Critics Association Awards	Best Animated Feature	Nominated
		Hong Kong Film Awards	Best Asian Film	Nominated
		Online Film Critics Society Award	Best Animated Feature	Nominated
		Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association	Best Animated Film	Nominated
		Tokyo Anime Award	Best Director	Won
			Best Original Story	Won
			Animation of the Year	Won
2010		Annie Award	Directing in a Feature Production	Nominated
2013	From Up on Poppy Hill	Annie Award	Writing in an Animated Feature Production	Nominated
	The Wind Rises	Venice Film Festival	Golden Lion	Nominated

Governmental

• Person of Cultural Merit, Japan (3 November 2012; the first anime director to receive the honour)

Further reading

• Cavallaro, Dani (2006). The Animé Art of Hayao Miyazaki. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co. ISBN 978-0-7864-2369-9. OCLC 62430842.
• McCarthy, Helen (1999). Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation. Berkely, CA: Stone Bridge. ISBN 978-1-880656-41-9. OCLC 42296779
• Miyazaki, Hayao (2009). Starting Point: 1979–1996. Beth Cary and Frederik L. Schodt, trans. Foreword by John Lasseter. San Francisco: VIZ Media. ISBN 978-1-4215-0594-7. OCLC 290477195.
  • ——— (1996), Shuppatsuten, 1979–1996 (出発点—1979~1996) (in Japanese), Tokyo: Studio Ghibli/Hatsubai Tokuma Shoten, ISBN 978-4-19-860541-4, OCLC 37636025. Original edition.
• Odell, Colin, & Le Blanc, Michelle (2009). Studio Ghibli: The Films of Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. Harpenden, Hertfordshire, ENG: Kamera. ISBN 978-1-84243-279-2. OCLC 299246656.
• Schodt, Frederik L. (1996) Dreamland Japan

External links

• The Official Studio Ghibli Site (Japanese)
• Miyazaki (information), Nausicaa.
• Miyazaki Hayao (profile), Japan Zone.
• Miyazaki, Hayao, "Interview", The Guardian, UK {{citation}}: |section= ignored (help).
• ——— (1997), "Interview", Nikkei Entertainment, archived from the original on 2001-02-11 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help).
• Hayao Miyazaki at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Hayao Miyazaki at IMDb