Joe Hisaishi – Princess Mononoke (Soundtrack) (LP, Album, Reissue, Vinyl)

Princess Mononoke is a 1997 Japanese adult animated epic historical fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten, Nippon Television Network and Dentsu. The film stars the voices of Yoji Matsuda, Yuriko Ishida, Yuko Tanaka, Kaoru Kobayashi, Masahiko Nishimura, Tsunehiko Kamijo, Akihiro Miwa, Mitsuko Mori, and Hisaya Morishige.

Princess Mononoke is set in the late Muromachi period of Japan (approximately 1336 to 1573 AD), but it includes fantasy elements. The story follows a young Emishi prince named Ashitaka, and his involvement in a struggle between the gods (kami) of a forest and the humans who consume its resources. The film deals with themes of Shinto and environmentalism. The term mononoke is not a name, but a Japanese word for supernatural, shape-shifting beings that possess people and cause suffering, disease, or death.