Shuna’s Journey

After forty years, one of the first works by the great master of Japanese animation Hayao Miyazaki is published in Italy by Bao Publishing. Inspired by Tibetan legend, the work never saw the light of day as an animated film, but was later published as a stand-alone manga. A story in which we already find many of the elements that the author would develop in the following years, especially in "Nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind" or "Princess Mononoke". Shuna is the prince of a forgotten kingdom, plagued by hunger and famine due to infertile soil. One day the prince comes across a dying traveller from a distant land. Before he dies, the man gives Shuna a bag of seeds, tells him about the land they come from and promises that they will save his people from starvation. So the prince decides to embark on a journey to the West in search of the mythical land and to save the future of his people. The simplicity of the story and the tables express some of the central themes of the author's poetics, such as the love of nature and the contrast between an idyllic rural world and an industrialised civilisation that threatens its balance. The beautiful and delicate watercolours, drawn directly by the author, dominate the pages rather than the text, creating a dreamlike atmosphere that is closer to cinematic language than the clear and defined black and white style usually favoured in manga.

Il viaggio di Shuna
Hayao Miyazaki
Bao Publishing, 2023