Ashitaka and San, from Princess Mononoke - Arr. Joe Hisaishi
Leland Y.
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Ashitaka and San, composed by Joe Hisaishi, is the ending track for the movie Princess Mononoke from Studio Ghibli. Often called the “John Williams of Japan,” Hisaishi composed this song specifically for the ending because of its emotional nature of peace and farewell. Watching the film for the first time, I was immediately drawn to the music, especially with its perfectly synced orchestration with the scene of the grass growing and flowers blossoming. Also, despite usually not being fond of anime, watching the poignant moment between the two characters parting got me very invested, partly because, being single, I couldn’t help but envy the idealistic bittersweet relationship they had, which, combined with the beautiful orchestration of the music, made me want to play the piece even more.
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Creativity is the ability to capture the raw emotions of a picture, and to bring a story to life through music. With Ashitaka & San, creativity would be to bring the scene to life. It would be the ability to translate the pictures of both bittersweet feelings and hope into sound.
