The Night of Taneyamagahara

A dreamlike encounter between farmers and forest spirits.

Kazuo Oga directed the short anime film The Night of Taneyamagahara for Studio Ghibli, basing it on Kenji Miyazawa’s story of the same name. After working on Princess Mononoke, Oga read a collection of Miyazawa’s works and felt inspired, making this a personal project. A DVD came out in Japan on July 7, 2006, and a special screening ran from February 2 to 7, 2010, at the Tokyo Museum of Contemporary Art during an exhibition on Oga’s work.

Quick Facts

Director: Kazuo Oga
Based on: The Night of Taneyamagahara; by Kenji Miyazawa
Music: Ensemble Planeta
Studio: Studio Ghibli
Distributor: Buena Vista Home Entertainment Japan
Released: 2006
Runtime: 27 minutes
Country: Japan

Facts from the source article.

Plot

Set during a famine in the Tohoku region, the story follows Ito, who spends a night with three farmers preparing for mowing. In a dream, Ito interacts with Forestry Office staff about burning charcoal for payment. Oak, kashiwa, and birch spirits, called kodama, appear and debate with Ito over cutting trees. Ito sees the mountain as a rich landscape where water boils and akebi and mushrooms grow, but cutting trees for charcoal is necessary for income. The kodama oppose cutting trees and only suggest burning charcoal. The dream story explores the idea that humans are not the only inhabitants of the world, depicting mountain farmers deepening their understanding of nature through encounters with mysterious figures.

Authors

Kenji Miyazawa, from Iwate Prefecture’s Hanamaki City, was born in 1896. After finishing Morioka Higher Agricultural and Forestry School and its graduate program, he taught at Hanamaki Agricultural School. He founded the Rasuchijin Association, blending agricultural education with literary work, and wrote tanka, poetry, and fairy tales. Kazuo Oga, born in 1952 in Akita Prefecture, began as a background artist at Kobayashi Productions in 1972. At Studio Ghibli, he served as art director for My Neighbor Totoro, Pom Poko, and Princess Mononoke, and handled backgrounds for Howl’s Moving Castle and Tales from Earthsea.

Release

The film was released on DVD on July 7, 2006, with a small booklet containing an interview with Kazuo Oga. A special screening occurred from February 2 to 7, 2010, during the A Ghibli Artisan - Kazuo Oga Exhibition at the Tokyo Museum of Contemporary Art. The exhibition statement noted that the production captures Japan's landscape beauty and features music integral to the storytelling, including Kenji Miyazawa's lyrics and Dvorak's Symphony No. 9.