You have found Ryuu no Shounen, a humble website dedicated to the shape-shifting river deity from Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away or 千と千尋の神隠し. Enjoy!
updates
Historically, this gem gets a makeover primarily in July and April—in that order. It’s like a paranormal phenomenon. But unremarkable, considering there are literal UFOs flying about… and here I am, pouring over code and copy. Anyway, these are the latest additions:
August 31, 2024 ⋯ Fresh design, high-res screen captures, edits everywhere, and supplementary musings under questions. Whew! (Gasp… breaking the July-April pattern!)
June 4, 2024 ⋯ Relocated to NEON SABER!
July 29, 2022 ⋯ Restoration complete! Project re-launched. やった—!
April 20, 2022 ⋯ Once again, it is April. A bout of nostalgia compelled yours truly to revive this turn-of-the-millennium indulgence. Using the Wayback Machine, as all of its previous iterations were erased.
past designs and updates
April 4, 2011 ⋯ Minor edits all over! Fan art in the works! And… it’s April again. I’m not doing this on purpose, I swear.
May 24, 2009 ⋯ A kind visitor named HAS (bless you!) has just sent me corrections regarding Haku’s wardrobe. I was pretty off—but that’s all fixed now, yay! As for promising more fan art and better screen captures: shame on me, not done yet! Oh well, perhaps in the future… *wistfully stares at horizon* XD
October 10, 2008 ⋯ Tweaked layout (promise I’m done now!). Added fan art and theme songs.
August 7, 2008 ⋯ New layout: take two. Livejournal icons.
July 31, 2008 ⋯ New layout, text edits.
April 4, 2007 ⋯ Whoa, another update??
July 27, 2006 ⋯ A site revamp? Unbelievable!!
April 12, 2006 ⋯ Moved and updated to PHP.
July 12, 2003 ⋯ Launched. Long, long time ago.
about
You are looking at a reboot of a prehistoric shrine interspersed with Japanese quotes and annoyingly italicized romaji, because I was (and still am) enamored with the language of my favorite art form: anime!
Anyway, this website’s title comes from one of Haku’s theme songs, which plays during his battle with the shikigami. I screen captured that scene and practically the entire movie, amassing an extensive gallery. Then… woe, a wholly preventable scenario: a defunct computer, no backup, no files. The only path to recovery was the Wayback Machine. And three months of design and copy-editing.
So… that’s the story. Do contact me (clickie @) if there is something you would like to ask, note, or contribute.
human
In human form, Haku has green eyes and olive hair in a blunt bob. He and Chihiro are approximately the same build: petite and very slender.
Haku’s wardrobe has the lot of us scratching our heads. My best guess is that he wears a stylized joue (浄衣): a T-shaped robe with slits over the shoulders and down the sides, and a pair of ballooning trousers. Beneath the joue, he sports a blue undergarment that, quite likely, is a hitoe (単衣). His belt and sandals could qualify under the broad terms, obi (帯) and zori (草履), respectfully.
Haku is, for the most part, drawn like a traditional Japanese dragon. Now, dragons are already a bizarre combination of animal parts (serpentine body, stag antlers, catfish barbels, eagle talons, and so on). Our Haku is a softer, warmer offshoot of… that… with his silky equine mane and fuzzy canine snout.
Something to ponder: do these changes make him a hybrid or a hybridized hybrid? Don’t think too hard on that…
name
Haku means white. The kanji for the color white is 白: its on reading is haku and its kun reading is shiro. Hence the title of Haku’s Image Album song, Shiroi Ryuu.
Haku’s name is written as ハク. His full name is Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi, which translates into Spirit of the Amber River. It is written like this: ニギハヤミコハクヌシ.
story
Haku is a supernatural entity who once lived in and was the guardian of a river in (re-imagined) rural Japan. One day, Chihiro (perhaps age five) fell into its rushing waters whilst attempting to retrieve her sandal. Haku caught her and brought her ashore.
In the following years, the river was drained and covered with condominiums. The displaced deity roamed the land until he, like many others, wound up at Yubaba’s bathhouse. Captivated by her powers, he requested an apprenticeship. (To have such a prize fall into one’s lap—cue crow-like cackle!) Kamaji, the kindly grandfather figure, warned Haku against it. But the young and distraught dragon was keen on learning sorcery.
そのうちどんどん顔色が悪くなるし、目つきばかりきつくなってな…
Once Yubaba got control over him, his face turned pale and his eyes turned steely.
Implied is that, thereafter, Yubaba sent Haku on shady and downright dangerous errands. His final directive being to ransack her twin sister’s cottage in order to steal a high potency seal. Which was brazenly nasty and promptly backfired.
True to form, Miyazaki uses the momentum of conflict to uplift his characters. He shows us, once again, that dark measures often achieve the exact opposite: a shattering of control. The seal Haku swallowed had to be expelled, which freed him from the mind controlling worm. Upon regaining his clarity, Haku confronts Yubaba and apologizes to Zeniba. Thus, both Haku and Chihiro leave the bathhouse and its venal culture.
Forgiven and even embraced, our heroes soar into the sky and drift in the quiet of dusk. It is then that Chihiro recalls what could have sent her to the spirit world: tumbling into a bubbling river—a river called Kohaku. At this, Haku’s amnesia recedes and his true identity resurfaces!
私も思いだした。
You did it, Chihiro, I remember.
seiyuu
Haku’s seiyuu is Miyu Irino. Miyu has, since, chosen some notable roles such as Syaoran from Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle (and related arcs) and Sora from Kingdom Hearts, as well as a few cameos such as Yagura from Naruto Shippuden. This is merely what I am familiar with. Complete list here!
As for his role as Haku: perfect match! My initial impression was that his voice is really unique. Unassuming yet confident, if that’s a fair description? It has that speak-and-shout-in-the-same-pitch quality, which works beautifully. Furthermore, Miyu was in his teens at the time of recording, so his Haku sounds natural rather than forced.
voice actor
Haku’s English-speaking alter ego is Jason Marsden, who is largely known for Disney (hiisssssss) roles. He does a decent job… albeit his delivery is a tinge smug. That can be partly attributed to Disney (Western dubber and distributor) distorting the dialogue to cater to American audiences.
For example, when the bathhouse is in an uproar over a human slipping by, the flunkies call out for Haku. He sends Chihiro to Kamaji then answers with:
Haku is here. … I know. That’s why I was out there.
ハクはここにいるぞ。 … 分かっている。そのことで外へ出ていた。
Disney replaced it with:
Calm down, I’m coming. … I know. It’s about my mission, right?
That’s oddly curt and off topic. They were asking about an intruder, but Disney made it sound like Haku openly discusses his missions? With random, hyperventilating frogmen…?
I’ll say this: watch both versions for comparison. Spirited Away is rich with Japanese folklore and cultural nuances that shine delectably in the original. On the flip side, subtitles mean less art and more text. So, whatever works for you!
why Haku
ハクが好き! Meaning, I love Haku! I do, he is a memorable character! Gracious, gallant, kind—a gentle and youthful iteration of an ancient, maleficent creature.
All the more endearing is how Haku holds Chihiro’s hands in nearly every scene. Zeniba teases Chihiro a bit, calling the ryuu her ボーイフレンド (boyfriend), which earns a puzzled look. Because they’re children and they don’t have to think about that.
Also, Haku is among the few characters untarnished by greed. He has no interest in material wealth, whereas his mentor—and her countless henchmen—are obsessed with riches. Yubaba is shown to hoard gold, gemstones, and other lucrative trinkets… which is quite dragon-like! (As far as Western lore goes.)
Below (last) is an illustration titled Conversations with Smaug by J.R.R. Tolkien, depicting an ornery reptile coiled around a mound of glistening treasures. In contrast to its Eastern counterpart, the wise and benevolent wingless serpent, this beast is a cunning and baleful fire-breather. Much like Yubaba when she snakes her locks around Haku and spews flames! Curious how Miyazaki chose to incorporate two dragons into his parable: one literal, one metaphorical.
Yubaba exhibits various draconian qualities as owner of a high traffic business center as well. She traps wandering spirits via magical contracts that rob them of their names and memories, commands the spirits to toil for the bathhouse indefinitely, and implants intestinal parasites that somehow exert mind control over their host (skirting the dark side here).
That’s how Yubaba controls you, by stealing your name.
湯婆婆は相手の名を奪って支配するんだ。
So, it is Haku’s purity of heart—despite the serious quagmire he tumbled into—that resonates with me. Enough to forget my life and toil over this website… indefinitely.
why Spirited Away
The embodiment of imagination that is Hayao Miyazaki and his handpicked acolytes that comprise Studio Ghibli is why. I devoted my teens to anime—it brought me endless joy and inspiration. I reveled in the timeless Neon Genesis Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop, Vision of Escaflowne, and series of equal caliber. They had an immediate effect.
Ghibli’s films, on the other hand, initially perplexed me. I turned my nose at Howl’s Moving Castle and Ponyo! Even with Grave of the Fireflies: it struck me to the core, but I couldn’t understand all that it conveyed. It took me years to grasp the depth of Miyazaki’s messages.
With Spirited Away, again, I fell in love with it—but my reasoning today is altogether different. Seeing it in 2003, I thought it gorgeous and exciting! Its lush environments and imaginative narrative rescued me from a pervasive rut. It was a sanctuary where I could emotionally loiter and rejuvenate.
Two decades hence, Spirited Away’s pertinence intensified. The arcane, depicted with refreshing levity, is resounding like a gong of massive proportions. Every civilization on Earth has legends of otherworldly beings, both exquisite and monstrous, walking the planet. Miyazaki shows us what such a wealth of lifeforms could look like. As I mention in questions, Miyazaki validates Chihiro’s journey. Incredible as it seems, it is possible.
The movie ends with Chihiro retracing her steps through the valley, rendezvousing with her (two-legged) parents, passing through the enigmatic tunnel, and exiting into “conventional” existence.
Now, the mind-boggling question: was the journey real? Maybe this is irrelevant, but it still confounds me. When Chihiro refers to Yubaba as granny or おばあちゃん, it occurred to me that the entire adventure may have been a magnificent embellishment of a little girl’s memories. Such as visiting her grandmother in the country and, potentially, interpreting the old woman’s fickle disposition as an actual duality: one sympathetic, one despotic. (Exactly how she asked if there are two Hakus.) Likewise, many of the phantasms she encounters could have been a way of perceiving sly or pushy adults.
However, Miyazaki indicates that this event, indeed, transpired. First, Chihiro returns wearing the hair tie made by her friends in the spirit realm. Second, her family experiences missing time. Her parents are astounded to find their car, parked seemingly moments ago, strewn with leaves and dust as though deserted for a month. Chihiro’s mother wonders if someone pulled a prank for, in a society ruled by logic, what other explanation can there be?
From a metaphysical standpoint, Chihiro’s family walks through a portal into a parallel reality or another dimension or some strata of the paranormal. The mossy dousojin statue served as a demarcation point and, for those privy to its significance, a warning. Nevertheless, this unwitting trio trespasses into kami territory, encounters the wondrous locals, and is walloped by an assortment of magical spells.
Would these escapades not have left an imprint on their psyche? Or, at least, baffled the movers waiting for the new homeowners that never arrived? Or the school whose transfer student disappeared?
Chihiro: Will we meet again sometime? Haku: Sure we will.
千尋: またどこかで会える? ハク: うん、きっと。
Haku affirms that he cannot step beyond the threshold boundary (until he annuls his apprenticeship), assuring Chihiro that the two will reunite. This statement establishes that nonphysical beings of miscellaneous ranks are free to roam among mortals when unconstrained by work contracts. Alternatively, our protagonists will most certainly reconvene an average lifespan later, once Chihiro departs from her corporeal vessel. And, anytime in between, they can intersect in the dreamstate.
Quite honestly, I glazed over this aspect until 2024. Share your ruminations with me. What is this all about?
links
There are some fascinating articles and galleries scattered throughout the internet pertaining to Spirited Away. These are but a few!
