The magnificent scenes in the "Spirited Away" movie full of Japanese classical style have seduced countless audiences.
Fortunately, although we can't really travel to the "world of the gods", we can still find the "realistic prototype" that director Miyazaki referenced.
Perhaps because too many people yearn for this fantasy "other world", it has spawned many pure marketing "rubbing heat" attractions.
Just from the main scene of the luxurious bathhouse "Oil House", there are three completely different rumors.
The first is that "Spirited Away" was filmed in Nine Parts of Taiwan.
Jiufen, located in Ruifang District, New Taipei City, Taiwan, flourished in the early days due to the abundance of gold mines, and then declined after the ore was excavated.
Many viewers also felt that Jiufen Mountain Castle looked exactly like a yuya street, and then such publicity began to appear on the Internet.
But in fact, Ghibli officially did not recognize this statement, and Miyazaki also published a rumor in the TV show, denying the three consecutive times.
In September 2013, in an exclusive interview with TVBS, Miyazaki suggested that "Spirited Away" had many locations, but did not mention nine.
In 2015, when Ghibli President Koji Hoshino came to Taiwan to participate in related activities, he also said that Miyazaki had not been to Jiufen.
However, the nostalgic Taiwan Jiufen is indeed related to a certain movie.
In the 1990s, Hou Xiaoxian's film "City of Sorrows" was filmed in Jiufen.
Jiufen's unique old-style architecture and slope style have finally attracted the attention of domestic and foreign countries through this film.
The town was revitalized and began to become a popular sightseeing spot.
However, the movie "Spirited Away" really has nothing to do with Nine.
The second theory is that "Spirited Away" was filmed in Chongqing's Hongya Cave.
This is also completely wishful thinking, as Miyazaki only visited China once in the 1980s (visited the studio).
Miyazaki has never been to Chongqing, and his creative habits are personal experience and experience, so the legend of Hongya Cave can be judged to be the practice of rubbing heat.
"In Japan, a lot of people feel that since they make movies, they have to shoot in their own places. When I made "Totoro", although it was taken near my home, there will be people in Kyushu who say, 'The filming place is in our place'. It can only mean that there are similar landscapes everywhere. ”
Miyazaki's words are also the perfect response to "high emotional intelligence".
The third statement is that the official seal certification can be sure of the unmistakable version.
In order to survive in the Divine Realm, Chihiro is forced to stay in this paper drunken gold fan bathhouse dedicated to the bathing of the gods.
The YauYa is the most important building in the whole story, and its archetype is a mixture of many traditional buildings in Japan.
For example, the Koho Yu Bathhouse in the Edo-Tokyo Building Park, the Bathhouse Dogo Onsen Main Hall built in Matsuyama City, Ehime Prefecture at the end of the 19th century, as well as the Onsen Fitting House and the Yubara Onsen Oil House.
Many of these are important local cultural heritage.
The reason why the luxurious bathhouse "Oil House" was chosen as the main scene of the story is because when Miyazaki was a child, this kind of place that was related to customs and industry (similar to our country's "Wenzhou Foot Wash City" and "Dongguan Massage Room") was a very mysterious existence for him.
The prototype of the appearance of the oil house mainly comes from the Main Hall of Dogo Onsen.
This is the main scene location of Spirited Away!
Dogo Onsen is a 3,000-year-old hot spring in the northeast of Matsuyama City, making it one of the three oldest hot springs in Japan.
The bath building, built in 1894, is the symbol of Michigo Onsen. Its majestic three-story timber-framed building has attracted countless celebrities from history.
In 1994, it was designated as a national cultural property and the first public bath in Japan to be designated as an important cultural property.
The prototype of the luxurious interior design of the oil house comes from Nijo Castle in Kyoto and Meguro Yayuan in Tokyo.
The former is the source of the oil house ceiling modeling, and the latter is the inspiration for the oil house interior.
Nijo Castle was built in 1603 as the seat of the shoguns in Kyoto and a symbol of power for the Edo shogunate.
The interior decoration, decoration and detailed construction of the palace buildings in Nijo Castle are exquisite and luxurious. The eaves and cornices are inlaid with pure gold leaf as a decoration. It has been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Meguro Yasuen, Tokyo is a high-end hotel in Tokyo, founded in 1928.
Since its inception, it has been known for being luxurious and expensive. Among them, the "100-step staircase" of Meguro Yasuen No. 3 Building, as a designated material cultural property in Tokyo, is the only existing wooden building since the establishment of the park in 1935.
The choice of these two mothers for the prototype of the interior decoration of the oil house is obvious: Miyazaki hopes to show the social form of the oil house in the most Japanese way.
The prototype of the bath where the gods bathed came from the Nagano Goldware House.
The Kaneya is located in Shibu-onsen, Nagano Prefecture and was built in 1758. Originally opened as a forge house, it was built as "Ramadan Building" and "Ohiroma" in 1936 and transformed into a hot spring inn.
The four-storey Ramada Building is a purely wood-made building by the famous smith Kiyosuke Mita, while the "Ōhiroma" is famous in Japan for its 130-post (130 tatami) pillarless spaces.
Both are included in the List of Tangible Cultural Properties of Japan.
The prototype of the large bath (wind bath) used by the gods in Chihiro is a romantic bath from the GoldWare House.
It is not difficult to see that the oil house is the material carrier that Miyazaki hopes to express the traditional Japanese bathing culture.
He used some of the most famous hot spring inns in various parts of Japan as a prototype to build a place for the gods to bathe and purify. The environment spliced together by this material fragment completes the excellent transmission of the traditional Japanese hot spring bathing culture.
It can be seen that Miyazaki's attitude towards Japan's architectural cultural heritage is quite strict.
When we explore the character setting and plot structure of the film, we will find that under this seemingly innocent and modern story, there is such a rich traditional Japanese cultural heritage.
No wonder "Spirited Away" can win back the Academy Awards and the Berlin Golden Bear, people really deserve it!