Hayao Miyazaki | Creative genius, Magsaysay award winner

Deftly etched drawings transmogrified into a lovely realm of colour and character: Studio Ghibli is well-known to those well-versed in the art of filmmaking, and anime in particular. As is Hayao Miyazaki, the man behind some of the most loved films from the Studio, and one of its co-founders.

Now Miyazaki adds another award to his glittering collection — the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award, commonly called Asia’s Nobel Prize.

While announcing the award, Studio Ghibli noted that the Ramon Magsaysay Foundation said that Miyazaki has “used art to help children understand complex issues, such as environmental protection and the promotion of peace. He has created many of the most memorable and beloved films in the world.”

We take a look at Miyazaki’s journey to become a well-loved and acclaimed animator.

The origin story

Hayao Miyazaki was born on January 5, 1941, in Tokyo, the son of the director of an aeroplane part-manufacturing company. This family business gave young Miyazaki an interest in planes that has endured throughout his life and his work.

He attended Gakushūin University in Tokyo, graduating with a degree in economics. In 1963, he joined Tōei Animation, then Asia’s largest producer of animated films. It was here, at Tōei, that he met and befriended Isao Takahata, who later became his business partner. He also met Ota Akemi, who later became his wife.

Toei made feature-length animated films for the big screen and later television. Among their works was the 1974 series Heidi, Girl of the Alps, produced by Zuiyo, directed by Takahata and with a screenplay by Miyazaki. They also worked on the series Ōkami shōnen Ken (Wolf Boy Ken), and Taiyō no ōji: Horusu no daibōken (Little Norse Prince) which marked Takahata’s debut as a director.

Miyazaki and Takahata left Toei in 1971, and the pair continued to work for studios across the city. In 1979, Miyazaki released his first feature-length film Rupan sansei: Kariosutoro no shiro (1979; Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro), which followed the adventures of gentleman thief Lupin.

In 1985, Miyazaki founded Studio Ghibli, along with Takahata and producer Toshio Suzuki. The studio’s objective was to create animation films that diverged from the tropes of the time. Exploration of the human psyche, storytelling and creativity were to be at the base of their work.

Miyazaki selected ‘Ghibli’ as the name for this new venture, a word meaning the hot wind that blows in the Sahara Desert. According to lore, the name had been used for an Italian reconnaissance plane deployed in World War II, which is where Miyazaki, an aeroplane enthusiast, came across it and decided to use it for the new studio.

The studio came into being soon after the trio’s first venture Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind became a success; it was based on a manga of the same name published by Miyazaki, and had been produced by Tokuma Shoten.

On the heels of this success, Studio Ghibli released Laputa: Castle in the Sky in 1968, again produced by Tokuma Shoten. The film’s narrative follows an orphan boy and a girl from a farm as they explore the mysterious realm of Laputa.

A still from ‘My Neighbour Totoro’

In 1988, Miyazaki created one of his most popular works — My Neighbour Totoro, in which a pair of sisters in rural Japan, befriend mythical woodland spirits. He followed it up with Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989), the coming-of-age journey of a young witch and Porco Rosso (1992), which sees a pilot now cursed to bear the face of a pig.

Alongside Miyazaki, Isao Takahata also directed several notable films — like the heart-wrenching Grave of the Fireflies (1988).

1997’s Princess Mononoke, which wove a touching narrative about nature and human progress, peppered with Japanese tree spirits called Kodama, turned out to be a blockbuster. More success awaited; the 2001 film Spirited Away won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2003 — the first non-English language film to do so. Following in its footsteps, Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) was nominated for an Academy Award as well. Miyazaki also co-wrote the screenplay for The Secret World of Arrietty (2010).

A still from ‘Princess Mononoke’

In 2013, Studio Ghibli released The Wind Rises, a story about Japanese fighter plane designer Horikoshi Jiro, based on one of Miyazaki’s mangas; it too was nominated for an Academy Award. In 2015, Miyazaki was also awarded an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement.

The Wind Rises was to be Miyazaki’s last film, he said, announcing his retirement. However, in 2016, he announced that a short-film venture — Kemushi no Boro (Boro the Caterpillar) — was to be made into a feature-length film.

A still from ‘The Boy and the Heron’

After taking a break of more than 10 years, Miyazaki returned to the studio withThe Boy and The Heron, which was released globally last year to widespread acclaim. Each frame was hand-drawn, with the film meticulously crafted over seven years. It tells the story of a young boy, grieving the loss of his mother, who is prodded by a heron into entering a tower leading to a realm peopled by both the living and the departed.

This film, noted for its bittersweet tenor, bagged Golden Globe, BAFTA and Academy awards earlier this year.

What is the Ramon Magsaysay Award?

The Ramon Magsaysay Award, considered one of Asia’s top honours, is awarded in recognition of “greatness of spirit shown in selfless service to the peoples of Asia.”

The award was instituted by the trustees of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund in 1957 in honour of the late President of the Philippines Ramon Magsaysay. It was first awarded in 1958. Till 2008, it was awarded in six categories: government service, public service, community leadership, peace and international understanding; emergent leadership and journalism, literature, and creative communication arts. Except for emergent leadership, all the other categories have now been discontinued.

To date, 322 people and 26 organisations hailing from 22 Asian nations have been awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award. Artists from different fields have won the Award, including Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray, Carnatic classical vocalist M.S Subbulakshmi and Filipino musician Raymundo Pujante Cayabyab. Journalists Ravish Kumar (2019) and Arun Shourie (1982), Bengali writer Mahaswetha Devi, and cartoonist R.K Laxman too have won the Award in the past.

The other awardees this year are Bhutan’s Phuntsho Karma, a former Buddhist monk, scholar and social worker; Vietnamese doctor Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuong, who works with the Vietnam Association of Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin (VAVA); Indonesia’s Farhan Farwiza, the conservationist-founder of Yayasan Hutan Alam dan Lingkungan Aceh (HAkA), dedicated to preserving the Leuser ecosystem; and the Rural Doctors Movement from Thailand.

The 2024 awardees will be honoured in a ceremony in Manila this November.