Japanese Mythology in Film: A Semiotic Approach to Reading Japanese Film and Anime

by Yoshiko Okuyama

Overview

A cyborg detective hunts for a malfunctioning sex doll that turns itself into a killing machine. A Heian-era Taoist slays evil spirits with magic spells from yin-yang philosophy. A young mortician carefully prepares bodies for their journey to the afterlife. A teenage girl drinks a cup of life-giving sake, not knowing its irreversible transformative power. These are scenes from the visually enticing, spiritually eclectic media of Japanese movies and anime. The narratives of courageous heroes and heroines and the myths and legends of deities and their abodes are not just recurring motifs of the cinematic fantasy world. They are pop culture’s representations of sacred subtexts in Japan. Japanese Mythology in Film takes a semiotic approach to uncovering such religious and folkloric tropes and subtexts embedded in popular Japanese movies and anime.

Part I introduces film semiotics with plain definitions of terminology. Through familiar cinematic examples, it emphasizes the myth-making nature of modern-day film and argues that semiotics can be used as a theoretical tool for reading film. Part II presents case studies of eight popular Japanese films as models of semiotic analysis. While discussing each film’s use of common mythological motifs such as death and rebirth, its case study also unveils more covert cultural signifiers and folktale motifs, including jizo (a savior of sentient beings) and kori (bewitching foxes and raccoon dogs), hidden in the Japanese filmic text.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780739190920
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	04/09/2015
Pages:	262
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Yoshiko Okuyama is associate professor of Japanese studies at the University of Hawai'i at Hilo.

Table of Contents

Part I: Semiotics for Film Analysis
Chapter 1: Introduction: What is Semiotics?
Chapter 2: Reading Film: The Nature of Interpretation
Chapter 3: Mythology in Film: Why Study Mythology in Popular Film and Anime?
Chapter 4: Storytelling : What is in the Story?
Chapter 5: Visual Literacy: What do We Get from Watching Film?

Part II: Application: Case Studies of Japanese Film Analysis
Chapter 6: Taoism and Shinto Symbolism: Onmyōji (2001) and Onmyōji II (2003)
Chapter 7: Classic Literature Motifs in Spirited Away (2001) and Princess Mononoke (2000)
Chapter 8: Motifs of Buddhism and Folklore in Dororo (2007) and Departures (2008)
Chapter 9: Eclectic Myths in Mushi-shi (2006) and Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2004)
Chapter 10: Conclusion: Social Usage of Mythology

Editorial Reviews

Yoshiko Okuyama’s Japanese Mythology in Film is a fascinating study of mythological motifs and metaphors embedded in contemporary Japanese live-action and animated movies.... The book could be used in its entirety as a textbook to supplement lectures for an undergraduate course on a similar topic; individual chapters could also be used to introduce specific methodological approaches, media works, or religious themes and practices in a variety of different teaching contexts. Finally, the book could be a useful a starting point for individual research projects by senior undergraduate, honours, or even postgraduate students in a variety of different areas, including film studies, semiotics, or Japanese religion and culture.

Journal of Religion in Japan

This good book harks back to pioneering studies of Japanese film.... Okuyama's book is valuable for clearly introducing semiotics as a method for film analysis and for her excellent case studies of contemporary classic Japanese films.... Japanese Mythology in Film is a well-researched and interesting tome that could be very useful in the classroom.

The Journal of Japanese Studies

Popular all over the world, anime are too often viewed only as part of globalized popular culture. Japanese Mythology in Film offers a much-needed interpretive method foregrounding these films’ adaptation of culturally specific tropes from Japanese folktales, legends, and folk religious beliefs. Pedagogically suited to courses on fairy tales, myth, popular culture, and film as well as to Japanese language and culture courses, Okuyama’s book shows how film and anime make Japanese traditional values relevant to reimagining the relationship of humans and nature.

Cristina Bacchilega

Okuyama's work...will be more accessible to readers unfamiliar with Japanese culture.... This guide is intended to provide basic teaching material for undergraduates, but it is also helpful for scholars approaching film and anime from a social science or folkloristic perspective.

Journal of American Folklore

A superb analysis of the relations between Japanese mythology, religion and folklore that will be of great value to anyone interested in Japanese culture and society. Using semiotic analysis, Okuyama offers readers a scholarly, yet accessibly written, study of Japanese films and anime such as Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, and Departures. Highly recommended.

Arthur Asa Berger

In Japanese Mythology in Film: A Semiotic Approach to Reading Japanese Film and Anime, Yoshiko Okuyama does a wonderful job of making theories of semiotics simple and easy to understand.Incorporating various current societal phenomena, Japanese Mythology in Film is an informative book for Japanese film and culture.

Noriko Reider

A superb analysis of the relations between Japanese mythology, religion and folklore that will be of great value to anyone interested in Japanese culture and society. Using semiotic analysis, Okuyama offers readers a scholarly, yet accessibly written, study of Japanese films and anime such as Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, and Departures. Highly recommended.



In Japanese Mythology in Film: A Semiotic Approach to Reading Japanese Film and Anime, Yoshiko Okuyama does a wonderful job of making theories of semiotics simple and easy to understand. Incorporating various current societal phenomena, Japanese Mythology in Film is an informative book for Japanese film and culture.


Okuyama's work...will be more accessible to readers unfamiliar with Japanese culture.... This guide is intended to provide basic teaching material for undergraduates, but it is also helpful for scholars approaching film and anime from a social science or folkloristic perspective.

Popular all over the world, anime are too often viewed only as part of globalized popular culture. Japanese Mythology in Film offers a much-needed interpretive method foregrounding these films' adaptation of culturally specific tropes from Japanese folktales, legends, and folk religious beliefs. Pedagogically suited to courses on fairy tales, myth, popular culture, and film as well as to Japanese language and culture courses, Okuyama's book shows how film and anime make Japanese traditional values relevant to reimagining the relationship of humans and nature.


This good book harks back to pioneering studies of Japanese film.... Okuyama's book is valuable for clearly introducing semiotics as a method for film analysis and for her excellent case studies of contemporary classic Japanese films.... Japanese Mythology in Film is a well-researched and interesting tome that could be very useful in the classroom.

Yoshiko Okuyama's Japanese Mythology in Film is a fascinating study of mythological motifs and metaphors embedded in contemporary Japanese live-action and animated movies.... The book could be used in its entirety as a textbook to supplement lectures for an undergraduate course on a similar topic; individual chapters could also be used to introduce specific methodological approaches, media works, or religious themes and practices in a variety of different teaching contexts. Finally, the book could be a useful a starting point for individual research projects by senior undergraduate, honours, or even postgraduate students in a variety of different areas, including film studies, semiotics, or Japanese religion and

From the Publisher

This good book harks back to pioneering studies of Japanese film.... Okuyama's book is valuable for clearly introducing semiotics as a method for film analysis and for her excellent case studies of contemporary classic Japanese films.... Japanese Mythology in Film is a well-researched and interesting tome that could be very useful in the classroom.

The Journal Of Japanese Studies