Note: This project does not take on an in depth analysis of the Nue arc due to its stereotypical, haunted-house approach to horror and the monstrous. The following post takes a significant shift away from the previous approaches of analysis and instead acts as a review of how the arc approached the monstrous (1).
The Nue arc takes place across episodes 8 and 9 and follows the Medicine Seller tracking a mononoke during a competition for the hand of Princess Ruri (2). Four suitors compete for the princess in order to attain the Todaiji — a legendary artifact believed to make one all powerful should they control it. Their task: compete in an incense identification game. However, after completing the game, the suitors soon discover that one of the four has been murdered, as has the princess herself. The Medicine Seller becomes the new judge of the incense game as the remaining suitors still wish to win the Todaiji.
The three suitors and the Medicine Man begin the Genjikou. The fourth suitor is missing, so the Medicine Man has taken his place.
The most prominent aspect of the arc is the incorporation of Japanese literature. The first one to appear is the use of Genji Monogatari. The incense game which Princess Ruri chooses is called Genjikou. There are five scents placed before the player and they must decide which ones are the same. There are 52 possible combinations, aligning with the 52 chapters of Genji Monogatari. The player must present their answer as a chapter title.
Additionally, the mononoke’s form is a Nue, a Japanese chimera which became most popular when written about in Heike Monogatari. Although the chimera takes many forms throughout literature, one of the suitors, the samurai, describes the Nue as it appears in the Heike: the head of a monkey, the legs of a tiger, and the tail of a snake (3). However, throughout the plot, it is revealed that the chimera is not at all like the monster in the Heike and instead takes on whatever form it chooses. In this arc, it chooses the form of three different women: Princess Ruri, Ruri’s servant, and a mysterious girl.
The nue’s form is the Todaiji, now known as a piece of wood. The nue draws in those who wish to attain power and traps them within the mansion grounds. In order to maintain a form outside the piece of wood, the nue must make others believe the wood is more than rotten. However, the mononoke took things to another level and killed the suitors who were drawn to its power. Night after night, the suitors must repeat the competition, unknowing that they have been long dead.
The nue evokes a nightmarish illusion when the Medicine Seller begins to exorcise the spirit. The souls of the suitors are trapped in the mansion and are tortured further.
Unfortunately, the characters and the mononoke are far less complex in this arc than in previous ones. All suffer from greed, but their power lust is unremarkable. Viewers do not sympathize with any character in the arc and instead develop resentment toward the men who grossly overlook Ruri in order to achieve their personal career goals. Even then, the mononoke does not feel like someone seeking justice. The nue’s murderous tendencies have no meaning other than to give itself more power. For the first time, the Medicine Seller feels like a typical monster slayer, but because the previous arcs held far more interesting plot points and characters, it is an unsatisfying progression of character.
The three suitors stand in line, their key attribute highlighted in bright coloring. They are as lackluster of characters as the rest of their muted design.
The only thing which saves this arc is the attention to the artwork. The animators incorporated far more interesting details in how the story was presented in this arc. Notably, most of the amination resides in muted tones. Each suitor and the nue have one brightly colored object (the samurai’s sword, the fishmonger’s beak attachment, the courtier’s hat, and Ruri’s eye makeup). The only one in full color is the Medicine Seller and a dog seen walking around the grounds. Color marks the beings who are truly alive, or feel real emotions. When the suitors “hear” the incense, the men light up in full color as they fall into a memory. When the nue reveals its true form, it too is in full color. The use of color throughout this arc enhanced the storytelling and made it visually appealing.
The courtier is brought to a memory of home by the first scent, saturating the entire scene.
Although the visuals of the arc were promising and extensive, it unfortunately isn’t enough to raise the arc above a disappointing status. Of the series, this arc was by far the least complex and was not as inviting as the others. With no relation to the characters, the artwork too suffers as even when they are brought to life with the incense the viewer is not too attached. One can admire the heavy cultural significance of the arc in its literary and artistic focus, but if studying the monstrous and looking for horror elements, this arc simply didn’t pull through.
Footnotes:
(1) Additionally, the arc’s heavy use of Japanese literary canon makes it difficult for those who do not have a comprehensive understanding of the canon to do a full analysis. The authors of the project did not want to leave the arc unmentioned in the analysis of Mononoke as a series, thus incorporating this broad based post to note both the arc’s existence and the mononoke who appears in it.
(2) Nakamura, Kenji, dir. “Mononoke: Nue Part 1”, and “Part 2” In Mononoke. Fuji TV. August 31 – September 6, 2007.
(3) Foster, Michael Dylan, and Shinonome Kijin. The Book of Yokai: Mysterious Creatures of Japanese Folklore. University of California Press, 2015. Accessed December 4, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt14btg72.
The Mononoke Project 
Leave a comment