
Miyazaki stated that Eboshi was supposed to have a traumatic past, although it is not specifically mentioned in the film.


The Spirit dies as the sun rises, but its form washes over the land and heals it, and Ashitaka's curse is lifted. Eboshi also explains that San was raised by the wolves as one of their own and resents humankind.Īfter the samurai flee and Irontown is evacuated, Ashitaka and San pursue Jigo and retrieve the head, returning it to the Forest Spirit. Irontown is a refuge for social outcasts, including lepers employed to manufacture firearms it was one of these guns that had wounded Nago. In Irontown, Ashitaka learns that Eboshi built the town by clearcutting forests to claim ironsand and produce iron, leading to conflicts with the forest gods and Asano, a local daimyÅ. Ashitaka discovers two injured Irontown men and carries them through the forest, where he encounters many kodama and glimpses the Forest Spirit. Riding one of the wolves is San, a human girl. Nearby, men herd oxen to Irontown ('Tataraba' in Japanese), led by Lady Eboshi, and repel an attack by a wolf pack led by the wolf goddess Moro. Heading west, Ashitaka meets Jigo ('Jiko-bÅ' in the original Japanese version), an opportunist Buddhist monk, who tells Ashitaka he may find help from the Great Forest Spirit, a deer-like animal god by day and a giant 'nightwalker' by night.
