Miyazaki Hayao no Shigaku (The Poetics of Hayao Miyazaki)

Miyazaki Hayao no Shigaku - The Poetics of Hayao Miyazaki (宮崎駿の詩学) is an essay by folklorist Norio Akasaka analysing the work of Hayao Miyazaki.

From «Future Boy Conan» to «The Boy and the Heron», Akasaka unravels the richness of Miyazaki's cinema through the five elements —earth, water, fire, wind and sky—. Written by the author of «Nausicaä-kō», it is a culminating study of the filmmaker: a close look at how Miyazaki drew the world and the beings that inhabit it.

Recommended level: Advanced (JLPT N1). It is a critical essay in prose, without furigana and with demanding literary and conceptual vocabulary.

Original Japanese version, without furigana.