The Spirituality of Spirited Away

Spirited Away

Spirited Away: Shinto Spirituality and the Japanese Imagination

Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away (2001) could be described as fantasy, but its power lies in how it renders a uniquely Japanese vision of the spiritual world. Deeply informed by Shinto beliefs, the film animates a world in which spirits inhabit rivers, buildings, and even forgotten corners of human life. At its heart, the story reflects a worldview where purification, balance, and reverence for nature are central, and where imagination is not mere escapism but a faculty that grants access to the sacred.

The River Spirit

Kami and Animism

One of the most striking features of Spirited Away is its insistence that all things are alive. The bathhouse is populated by kami-like spirits, from soot sprites to the imposing river god. Each spirit embodies an aspect of the natural or unseen world, affirming the Shinto belief that kami reside everywhere - in stones, rivers, animals, and even household objects. The film refuses to separate the material and the spiritual; instead, it portrays them as overlapping layers of the same reality.

Cleansing the River Spirit

Purification and Transformation

Purification is central to Shinto practice, and Miyazaki embeds this theme in the film’s narrative. The cleansing of the polluted river spirit - initially mistaken for a stink spirit - becomes a climactic moment. Pulling rubbish and toxins from its body, Chihiro restores it to its true form, a dragon-like river god. This scene dramatises the Shinto idea that pollution is not sin but imbalance, and that purification restores harmony rather than punishes wrongdoing. Chihiro’s own transformation mirrors this process: through courage and compassion, she reclaims her true name and identity, moving from “Sen” back to “Chihiro.” In both cases, cleansing is a return to essence.

Adults blinded by appetite

Imagination as Spiritual Access

The imaginative dimension of Spirited Away is not separate from spirituality - it is the very means by which Chihiro enters the spirit world. Children in Shinto tales often possess a heightened sensitivity to kami, and Miyazaki follows this tradition. Adults in the film, blinded by greed and appetite, cannot perceive the spirit world except in distorted ways. Chihiro’s openness, vulnerability, and imagination allow her to engage with spirits and survive in their realm. Miyazaki suggests that imagination is not fantasy in the Western sense but a deeper perception, a way of seeing the world as alive.

Moral Ecology and Balance

The film also communicates a moral ecology. The greed of the bathhouse workers, the pollution of rivers, and the voracious appetites of humans are contrasted with the patience, generosity, and reciprocity of the spirits. No-Face, who becomes monstrous when indulged, regains balance when treated with kindness and restraint. Through these narratives, Miyazaki conveys a Shinto-inflected ethic: human flourishing depends on recognising limits, living in balance, and respecting the unseen forces that sustain life.

Tea Time with No Face

Shinto Symbolism and Ritual Practice

Throughout the film, Miyazaki includes visual codes and ritual gestures that ground the story in Shinto practice. Chihiro passes under torii gates, bows to spirits, and participates in acts of offering - placing food before kami and showing gratitude. These practices remind the viewer that spirituality is not confined to temples but woven into daily gestures of respect. Unlike Western traditions that frame the sacred in terms of sin and redemption, Spirited Away reflects a worldview of continuity and balance: the sacred is everywhere, waiting to be acknowledged.

Conclusion

Spirited Away is not simply a tale of a girl lost in a magical realm. It is a film that embodies the Shinto imagination: a vision of the world as animated by spirits, requiring purification, balance, and reverence. Miyazaki’s artistry lies in showing how imagination allows us to perceive this reality - not as fantasy, but as truth. In doing so, the film communicates a spirituality both deeply Japanese and universally resonant: the recognition that to live well, one must live in harmony with the seen and unseen alike.

For further reading, the next article will continue to explore Japanese spirituality.

Across cultures and histories, human beings have imagined the world as alive. Mountains, rivers, plants, and animals have been seen not merely as resources but as presences - sacred, ancestral, and enduring. This sense of a world infused with spirit is especially vivid in both Indigenous Australian and Japanese traditions. Although separated by geography and language, both see land as sacred, ancestors as active, and art as a bridge to the unseen.

In contemporary Australia, these resonances can be explored through two paths. The first looks at parallels between Indigenous Australian and Japanese spirituality, considering how artworks such as Emily Kam Kngwarreye’s Yam awely and Takashi Murakami’s Japan Supernatural reflect deep cultural beliefs about spirit, nature, and nourishment. The second examines Hayao Miyazaki’s film Spirited Away, in which Shinto beliefs and Japanese imagination animate a story of spirits, purification, and balance.

Together, these explorations invite us to reconsider spirituality not as abstract doctrine but as lived reality, grounded in land, ancestors, and the imaginative capacity to see the world as more than inert matter. They remind us that across cultures, the sacred is often found in the same place: in the recognition that the world is alive.