Hayao Miyazaki is the director and screenwriter of the Ghibli film “Chihiro’s trip to the Magic Land”. A scene in the anime makes it clear that there are big gaps between the generations.
Which scene is it about? Chihiro gives Haku a healing dumpling in his dragon form, causing him a black worm. Chihiro runs after the being and crushes him with her shoe. Kamaji, the man with the six arms, calls Chihiro in this scene that she should cut the cord.
In doing so, she holds her index fingers and thumb together. Kamaji then hits his flat hand through the Chihiro fingers.
In an interview with Hayao Miyazaki and Rumi Hiiragi, it becomes clear that even the 37-year-old Japanese does not understand what is meant by this gesture. Miyazaki then clarifies her what this scene is all about. You can see the interview and the scene in the Yurikuki YouTube video.
You can find the trailer to Chihiro’s trip to the Magic Land here:
Chihiro’s trip to the Magic Land Trailer (English)
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Old Japanese custom that youth no longer understand
What does it mean? The string of the cord means a traditional, Japanese gesture. It is a lucky charm, so to speak, that you carry out when you are affected by impurities. Miyazaki mentioned in the interview that this could be a dog pile, for example, in which one stepped into.
The person persecuted by the bad luck holds two index fingers together. Another person then makes a cutting gesture through the connected index finger and pretends to “cut through the cord”. This is supposed to drop the impurity.
Why do you only understand if you are so old? The young voice actor was amazed and noticed that she had never heard of this tradition. Miyazaki replied that this custom was actually known throughout Japan.
However, a sound engineer added that “the young people no longer know what it would be today”. After all, Hayao Miyazaki is 84 years old, which corresponds to an age difference of 47 years. In the past, Miyazaki has left several times that he is worried about younger generations, probably also because they forget such traditions.
Over the years, the custom has increasingly been forgotten. It is all the better that Miyazaki revives him through Chihiro’s journey to the Magic Land.
When it comes to the spectators, Chihiro’s trip to the Magic Land is the best film from the animation studio Ghibli. But the studio has published more classics over the years. In the following post you will find out how the other films do in the ranking: All Ghibli films in the ranking according to IMDB