Understand who Hayao Miyazaki is, how his path in animation took shape, and how Studio Ghibli came to be.
Who he is and why he matters
Hayao Miyazaki in a nutshell
Hayao Miyazaki (born January 5, 1941, in Tokyo) is a Japanese animation director, artist, screenwriter, and co-founder of Studio Ghibli. He is called one of the greatest animators in film history: it was thanks to him that the world began to see Japanese hand-drawn animation (anime) as serious auteur art, not just entertainment for children.
Miyazaki grew up in wartime and postwar Japan. His family was tied to the aircraft industry (his father's company made airplane parts), and a love of the sky, machines, and flight runs through all his work. As a child he drew constantly and read manga avidly.
His films include “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind,” “My Neighbor Totoro,” “Princess Mononoke,” “Spirited Away,” “Howl's Moving Castle,” and others. For “Spirited Away” he won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature (2003); later came an honorary Oscar for his contribution to film and, in 2024, a second Oscar for Best Animated Feature, for “The Boy and the Heron.”
Lesson notes
Hayao Miyazaki in a nutshell
Hayao Miyazaki (born January 5, 1941, in Tokyo) is a Japanese animation director, artist, screenwriter, and co-founder of Studio Ghibli. He is called one of the greatest animators in film history: it was thanks to him that the world began to see Japanese hand-drawn animation (anime) as serious auteur art, not just entertainment for children.
Miyazaki grew up in wartime and postwar Japan. His family was tied to the aircraft industry (his father's company made airplane parts), and a love of the sky, machines, and flight runs through all his work. As a child he drew constantly and read manga avidly.
His films include “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind,” “My Neighbor Totoro,” “Princess Mononoke,” “Spirited Away,” “Howl's Moving Castle,” and others. For “Spirited Away” he won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature (2003); later came an honorary Oscar for his contribution to film and, in 2024, a second Oscar for Best Animated Feature, for “The Boy and the Heron.”
From animator to director
Miyazaki started out not as a star but as a rank-and-file worker. In 1963 he joined Toei Animation as an ordinary animator and spent years learning the craft: drawing the in-between phases of a movement, coming up with scenes, and working in a team on other people's projects.
The key person in his career was director Isao Takahata, an older colleague and friend: they became friends at Toei and went on to work side by side for many years. Together they made TV series and films, and it was largely his collaboration with Takahata that shaped Miyazaki's serious, thoughtful approach to animation.
His first big success as a director in feature films was “Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro” (1979), an adventure film that already shows his signature chases, charming characters, and love of machinery. His real breakthrough, and the start of his own path as an auteur, was “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind” (1984).
How the studio came about
The success of “Nausicaä” allowed Miyazaki and Takahata, together with producer Toshio Suzuki, to found their own studio. Studio Ghibli was set up in 1985 specifically to make high-quality auteur animated features without bending to the tastes of television and big corporations.
The word “Ghibli” itself (pronounced roughly “jiburi” in Japanese) is the name of an Italian airplane and of a hot wind from the Sahara. Miyazaki chose it with the idea “to blow a new wind through Japanese animation.” His love of aviation shows even in the studio's name.
Totoro, the big, kind forest spirit from “My Neighbor Totoro” (1988), became Ghibli's emblem. Over time the studio released dozens of films and became a world-famous brand; its works have won many awards, including an Oscar and prizes at the biggest film festivals.