Prince Ashitaka and the Good in Princess Mononoke 

Jasmine Mengjia Lin

Happiness today is often identified with pleasure, with a distinct sensation. This state of well-being is, however, also adjustable with the change of circumstances. Unpleasant events and conflict might not be accompanied with pleasure and while happy events may come with pleasure, some people tend to avert it in fear of negative consequences that may follow a state of happiness. Aristotle, on the contrary, concludes that happiness can be attained through the pursuit of a fulfilling life of excellence and through activity. From the two seemingly different views on happiness, parallels can be drawn from both in that our state of well-being can be controlled by the occurrences in our lives and also by ourselves. One can still be happy even when faced with adversity, but more importantly “no life is truly happy unless it is accompanied by reflection” (Nussbaum 343). Through Miyazaki's film, Princess Mononoke, we will investigate the happiness of the protagonist, Ashitaka, in the midst of his changing circumstances, and how even with his deadly disease he is able to contemplate and take control of his state of mind while pursuing his own happiness.  

Reaching a firm conclusion of Ashitaka’s state of happiness throughout the film is unlikely. Ashitaka’s state of well-being is nearly impossible to determine with only a two-hour window into his life. However, with what is given it can certainly be concluded, from an application of Aristotle’s theory, that during the entirety of the film, Ashitaka was pursuing happiness with some exceptions from the Aristotelian idea of happiness. The first point in agreement with Aristotle was that Ashitaka was in search of the good. The goods being sought after are peace and harmony. It is not only through one specific action that Ashitaka is able to reach his good, but it is through multiple actions and instances as his good is achievable in any situation in which there is conflict. And it is not the action that triggers his desire of the good, but it is in Ashitaka’s nature to always be in search of his good through peace, harmony, and a sense of unity within a community. The second point Aristotelian component seen in Ashitaka is that it is for this end that Ashitaka chooses to pursue his good. Peace and harmony within the community would certainly bring Ashitaka honour, pleasure, and reason; it is not for the sake of these by-products of happiness that Ashitaka chooses to pursue peace and harmony. It is not for the sake of something else, and it is also not for the sake of his personal happiness. It is for the happiness of others.  He chooses to leave his external goods and his village, not only to protect his people from the curse, but also in search of answers about the source of the evil that struck his home. Through his selfless actions, it can be deduced that Ashitaka is motivated solely by his kind heart and his love of people, nature and animals. It is certainly the peace and harmony of the community that bring happiness to Ashitaka and not the by-products/external goods. He chooses peace for the sake of peace and not for anything else. The third point in accord with the Aristotelian idea of happiness is that the good that Ashitaka is pursuing is self-sufficient and “makes life desirable and lacking in nothing” (Aristotle, 83). Ashitaka’s activity of being a prince of the Emishi has certainly allowed him to exhibit his function of retaining peace and harmony. However, it is not only through this activity that he exemplifies his purpose. His natural compassion for people is what drives him and not the activity itself that propels him forward.  

Ashitaka’s function in his action would be no different nevertheless if he were not a “good” prince, and it is for that reason that we can say that his actions of preserving peace is in accordance with his soul. Ashitaka would still be pursuing his chief good through peace even if he was not in activity. It is only in his role of prince and as a leader that gives him an advantage of acting well. It provides him with the necessities of doing a good job in maintaining peace. For Ashitaka, we can presume that just as “acts are pleasant to the lover of justice”, kindness and tolerance are pleasant to him, lover of peace and harmony. As Aristotle states:  “some identify happiness with excellence, some with practical wisdom, others with a kind of philosophic wisdom…” (Aristotle, 85); it may be perhaps that Ashitaka identifies happiness with peace and harmony within his community.  This harmony may be his end action which brings him happiness. Although in these three respects, Ashitaka does meet the Aristotelian idea of happiness, there is another aspect in which he does not comply to its standards. The pursuit of happiness is commonly linked to individualism and subjective well-being that “happiness is best understood as a personal concept… the satisfaction with life,” and it is for these reasons, Ashitaka may not be pursuing Aristotelian happiness. On the contrary, he chooses to make decisions based on the greater good of the community. Ashitaka may not be seeking happiness directly, but rather peace and harmony within the environment. Despite Ashitaka’s seemingly serious appearance, he is a kind-hearted person who wishes only for the best in other people. Ashitaka thinks more of the people around him and how he can become a better person for his community rather than centering his attention on how he, himself, can live a better life. “He is portrayed as a righteous defender of his village and a ready savior of those in distress” (Tucker, 81). Ashitaka is heavily influenced by his surroundings. He is happy if the people around him are happy and at peace. 

Although Ashitaka is not fully pursuing the Aristotelian happiness, he is also not purposely averting from happiness for reasons mentioned in Joshanloo & Weijers’ research, such as “bad things, such as unhappiness, suffering, and death, tend to happen to happy people.” (Joshanloo and Weijers, 268). Bad things or events that can bring unhappiness such as suffering and death are regarded as natural occurrences in the film. The natural life must give and also take away life and that all people, whether good or bad, must at some point meet with death. It is recognized that bad things can occur at any point in time, and that this is not in one’s control. The film may suggest that although we cannot control the events in our lives, we do have a certain amount of power in our hands in how we respond to them-that we can still choose to be happy or to pursue happiness even if we are struck with misfortune. Ashitaka becomes infected with a deadly disease at the start of the film. However, this “bad thing” does not take control of his emotions, rather he chooses to ignore the unhappiness that it may bring and to continue on with his habitual routine of maintaining peace. Ashitaka tends not to direct his attention to the negative outcomes that may come out of happiness, but rather is hopeful and optimistic about successful outcomes and how to improve the present state. Our hero and protagonist, Ashitaka, is simply not motivated by certain aspects that are tied to happiness, such as the individualistic pursuits and materialism. He would much rather contribute to the happiness of the society as a whole. Ashitaka is an ideal model of the Buddhists and traditional Chinese culture concept of utilitarianism where “contributing to society is considered as better for oneself and everyone else.”  

From the analysis of Ashitaka’s state of well-being, it can be concluded that Ashitaka is able to pursue the Aristotelian happiness with some exceptions, which is perhaps Ashitaka’s own definition of happiness. Even with his deadly disease, he is able to pursue happiness with no interference because he does not discount reflection. He is able to use his “intellectual virtue of practical wisdom” (Nussbaum, 343) while not allowing his instinctual reaction of pain and anger to overtake his power of self-control. His reflection of his true pursuit of happiness is much more powerful than his deadly infection. Ashitaka, for the majority of the time, can take full control of his demon hand with the exception of one specific scene in the film. While on his journey to find the origin of his curse, he encounters a mass murder in a village and the sight of this destruction drives his arm to act violently. Before Ashitaka beheads the soldiers, inducing violence on the innocent villagers, he asks them to stop but even after multiple times they choose not listen, so Ashitaka allows his arm to take control to end the massacre in the village. Ashitaka never has the desire to hurt people and only resorts to it as his last choice when he has absolutely no other option to end conflict. It is his ability to reflect and understand how “pain and loss, thoroughly experienced, rather than pushed away or deflected into aggression, can help him grow more compassionate... more skillful in self-knowledge” (Nussbaum 350). 

Ashitaka’s activities that bring him happiness are not always accompanied with pleasure. While fighting for justice and peace, he is not granted with pleasure on any occasion. In fact, Ashitaka is faced with many struggles during the process. In addition to his uncontrollable curse, he is seen as both as a collaborator and a traitor within the two conflicting groups of the film. However “the most important thing about the happy warrior is that he has traits that make him capable of performing all of life’s many activities in an exemplary way, and acts in accordance with those traits [as Austin states]” (Nussbaum, 343). Hence, looking at the film as a whole, we can conclude that Ashitaka was indeed a warrior in pursuit of his own happiness while acting in accordance with excellence. With the loss of external goods, such as honor and political power within his village, Ashitaka follows the advice and divination of the local shamaness, “to see with eyes unclouded by hate,” and acts against the curse in order to gain some control over it and to not allow it to take complete control over his mind and body. Rather than resulting in rage and destructiveness, the infection and rage propelled Ashitaka forward and built strength in him. Ashitaka’s struggle with the infection allowed him to persist in his commitment to peace and spiritual harmony between two conflicting ends allowing them to co-exist. “His experience of risk and suffering also deepened the personality, increasing compassion for others and making him more skillful in knowledge [as Wordsworth states]” (Nussbaum, 348). It is important in this day and age to not react so quickly and instinctively in response to pleasure/anger and associate external goods to happiness, but rather have some personal reflection on true happiness and that it is not always accompanied by pleasure. As Nussbaum states in her paper, “Who Is the Happy Warrior”: “Our democracy has many of the vices Socrates identified in his: haste, macho posturing, an excessive deference to wealth and honor. We badly need the element of reflection and if prestigious psychologists simply tell us again and again that reflections is not a necessary element of the happy life, we may begin to believe it” (Nussbaum, 544).  

Bibliography

 Nussbaum, Martha C. “Who Is the Happy Warrior? Philosophy, Happiness Research, and Public Policy.” International Review of Economics, vol. 59, no. 4, Dec. 2012, 335–361. 

 Parfitt, Matthew, and Dawn Skorczewski. Pursuing Happiness: A Bedford Spotlight Reader. Boston, Bedford/St. Martin's, a Macmillan Education Imprint, 2016.