Spirited Away: Why Did Chihiro Know Her Parents Weren’t Among the Pigs? – With the Mystery of the Emetic Dumpling –

“Spirited Away(Studio Ghibli Official)” is a feature-length animated film directed by Hayao Miyazaki, released in 2001. I think I was about a middle school student when it was released, and I remember finishing it without having any particular impression. It ended up being a record-breaking hit, but I myself only went to the theater once.

So, was it boring? Not really, it was just a very mysterious film. In the end, many things are not depicted in an easy-to-understand way, so I think it’s a work that requires you to think and search for your own points of interest.

I also think it’s a fact that many people who watched “Spirited Away” encountered a common mystery. This time, I’d like to consider one of them: “The problem of how Chihiro knew her parents weren’t among the pigs.” I myself have wondered about this since I first saw it and have been searching for the reason for a very long time. Ultimately, I came to my own understanding through a form of “wordplay,” and I’d like to write about that (though there isn’t just one conclusion). I’ll also consider the mysterious “Emetic Dumpling,” which we tend to overlook despite its strangeness.

Of course, this work is “Chihiro’s coming-of-age story,” so let’s look back on her growth as we reach the final conclusion.

*This article is an English translation of the original Japanese article, “【千と千尋の神隠し】千尋はなぜ豚の中に親がいないとわかったのか-苦団子の謎を添えて-“

Chihiro’s “Growth” and the Dream of the Pigpen in “Spirited Away”

A Sulking Chihiro and a Father Who Steps on the Gas

I personally believe that one of the brilliant aspects of “Spirited Away” lies in its opening. Specifically, Chihiro sulking in the car.

I have never experienced moving to a new school. For someone like me, the phenomenon of “transferring schools” is an unimaginable change (and it’s not something you can choose for yourself). I have accepted many transfer students as my classmates, and I have nothing but respect for how they adapted to their new environment.

And because I am that kind of person, when I see Chihiro sulking in the car, I feel a strange sense of “empathy,” thinking, “Of course, she’d feel that way.” Of course, since I’ve never transferred, “empathy” might be the wrong word, but a feeling of “Let’s try to understand Chihiro’s frustration!” is born within me.

However, here we should also consider the parents, especially the father, who feel their sulking daughter behind them.

As mentioned earlier, we are emotionally invested in “sulking Chihiro,” so the parents’ words and actions seem somewhat irritating. However, the parents are well aware that transferring schools will be a burden on their child. They must have explained things to Chihiro before the move. Chihiro, too, must have accepted the hard reality at that time, thinking, “I guess it can’t be helped.” But on that day, Chihiro sulked.

What must that father have been thinking in such a situation?

The reason that father kept driving on, even while getting lost, was not because he was foolish, but because he was trying to change the atmosphere somehow (after all, he does feel guilty).

However, we, who are already on “Chihiro’s side,” are driven by the thought, “Hey Dad, what are you doing?” and feel frustrated by the sight of her parents pushing forward into the tunnel.

Where does this fact come into play? Of course, it’s the scene where the parents turn into pigs.

Parents Who Turned into Pigs

Both when I first saw “Spirited Away” and even now, the sight of the parents eating the food in the shop without permission is unbearable to watch.

It’s truly painful to watch, thinking, “How can you do something so shameless!” The sight of Chihiro, who keeps pleading to go back, is truly pitiful.

But the reason we feel this way is likely because we have been cleverly “guided” to “Chihiro’s side” in the opening. And as a result, we

accept the fact that “the parents turn into pigs” as a matter of course.

In fact, in this scene, a slight gap is created between us, the viewers, and Chihiro. Did Chihiro immediately accept the fact when she saw the pigs? No, after seeing her parents as pigs, Chihiro starts running to look for her parents.

Of course, that makes sense.

If giant pigs are where your parents just were, it’s natural to think, “My parents have gone somewhere.” You would never think, “Oh, Mom and Dad turned into pigs!” In other words,

the first person to deny the phenomenon of “two humans turning into pigs” was Chihiro.

(Although later she says to Haku, “They haven’t turned into pigs, have they?”). But to us, it looks like her parents have turned into pigs.

Part of the reason we can’t accept the ending might be found here.

The Spoils of War: The “Emetic Dumpling”

After the shocking incident of “the parents turning into pigs,” an even more shocking problem arises: “she herself is disappearing.” But with Haku’s help, Chihiro somehow overcomes the difficulty.

After this, the story shifts to “how Chihiro will survive in that world,” but we must not forget that this is “our perspective.” Chihiro is still on her “journey to find her parents.”

In any case, after the “parents-turned-pigs incident,” through the miracles of “Haku’s guidance,” “Kamaji’s kindness,” and “Lin’s care,” Chihiro has an audience with Yubaba and has her name stolen.

Having her name stolen and officially becoming a member of the Aburaya bathhouse, Chihiro faces the “Stink Spirit incident” and, after much effort, obtains the “Emetic Dumpling.”

Of course, that “Emetic Dumpling” is a symbol of the “bitterness of life.” Chihiro, unconsciously, obtained both the “bitterness of life” and the “joy of achievement” at the same time.

However, the following scene makes us confused about the “Emetic Dumpling.”

This is the scene after Haku, who was sent to Zeniba’s place, returns in tatters. Seeing the injured Haku, Chihiro for some reason feeds him the Emetic Dumpling.

Certainly, since it was a gift from the river god, she might have “misunderstood” that it had some kind of effect, but it appears to have had an effect in the end.

It might not have been the effect Chihiro wanted, but for some reason, the curse Yubaba had placed on Haku was broken.

Why did this happen?

This is purely my personal opinion, but I believe Haku’s curse was broken not because of the “effect of the Emetic Dumpling,” but because “she stuck her arm down his throat.” In other words, that scene was

a scene where it looks like something happened because she fed Haku the “Emetic Dumpling” believing it had some effect, but in reality, he just threw up because she stuck her arm down his throat.

In other words, it might have been a “humorous scene” of “Haku throwing up (Haku ga haku).”

In the end, it comically depicts the existence of “Chihiro, who is unaware of her own growth.” If we think of it this way, we can continue to see the “Emetic Dumpling” as a “symbol of the bitterness of life.”

Now, I’ve completely strayed from the topic, but to return to the main thread of its connection to the final scene, what’s important is the dream she has on the night she gets the Emetic Dumpling.

In that dream, Chihiro is unable to find her parents among the many pigs in the pigpen.

The groundwork for that scene was laid when Chihiro was taken to the pigpen by Haku before the “Stink Spirit incident.” There, Haku tells her that the pigs in front of her are her parents, and she tells the pigs, “I’ll turn you back to normal,” before leaving.

To repeat, after obtaining the Emetic Dumpling, for some reason, Chihiro has a dream where she can’t find her parents, who are supposed to be among the pigs.

Now, why is that?

I’ve written at length, but let’s get to the conclusion in the next section.

Why Did Chihiro Know Her Parents Weren’t Among the Pigs?

Conclusion One: Wordplay

So, to state the first conclusion, the reason Chihiro knew her parents weren’t among the pigs is that her parents are not pigs.

This is the “wordplay” I mentioned at the beginning.

The problem becomes difficult because she is told to choose her parents from a few pigs. If, at that time, all the pigs in the world were in front of Chihiro, the question “Choose your parents from among these” could also be taken as the question “Are your parents pigs?” After all, there are too many to check.

Of course, “pig” in this case is a derogatory term. Therefore, to rephrase the question one more step, it could be said she is being asked, “Are you such a child that you don’t even understand your parents’ struggles?“

However, for Chihiro, who has gone through the successful experience of the Emetic Dumpling, the “pigs” in front of her do not look like her parents.

Forcing their child to transfer schools for their own convenience, stepping on the gas for their sulking daughter, trying to feed their daughter who must be hungry…

Because she understands that all these things happened “out of the parents’ love for their child,” Chihiro comes to the conclusion that “my parents are not here (my parents are not ‘pigs’).”

In other words, she has grown enough to arrive at the self-evident truth that “parents are not ‘pigs’.” However, this alone does not justify the existence of the “final trial” itself. To put it another way, it doesn’t answer the question, “Why did Chihiro have to undergo the final trial?”

To understand this, it’s important to consider what kind of being can enter into a “contract.”

Of course, it is “adults” who can enter into a “contract.”

Modern society “protects children” without being asked by taking away their human rights and preventing them from exercising their “freedom of contract.”

Conversely, if a “‘child’ enters into a ‘contract’ with someone, it becomes a ‘slave contract’.” Modern society desperately tries to prevent this.

In the work “Spirited Away,” Chihiro seems to be making a “contract” with Yubaba as a “child,” but this is more like a “slave contract” where she must continue to obey what the other party says.

The difference between a “contract” and a “slave contract” is “whether it can be terminated.”

The reason there is a trial at the end of “Spirited Away” is likely because “only ‘adults’ can ‘terminate a contract,’ so she had to prove that she was an ‘adult’.”

The trial imposed on her was, as mentioned earlier, “Do you understand your parents’ struggles?” and Chihiro answered it brilliantly. Because her parents are not “pigs.” That conclusion itself becomes “proof” that Chihiro has become an “adult,” and as a result, she seized the “contract termination” (because she is an “adult”).

Now, I am personally satisfied with this way of thinking about the ending. But I also think there might be another perspective.

Conclusion Two: Escaping from Society’s “Illusion”

Conclusion Two is not drastically different from Conclusion One, but the nuance is slightly different. However, Conclusion Two is more in line with the direction I’ve been writing in. First, what’s important is the fact that in the work “Spirited Away,” only Haku and Yubaba claim that “Chihiro’s parents turned into pigs.”

Chihiro merely believes her parents turned into pigs based on their testimony; she has never confirmed this fact with her own eyes.

In a way, she is “obedient,” but “taking what people say at face value” is precisely proof of being a “child.” Chihiro, still a “child,” is skillfully deceived by words in that mysterious world.

And at the end, Chihiro is almost deceived again. In other words, although her parents are not among the pigs, Yubaba tries to make her believe that they are. And we, the viewers, are brilliantly deceived, but the “grown-up” Chihiro is no longer fooled by Yubaba’s “words” and arrives at the self-evident truth that “her parents are not pigs.” In a sense, it’s as if Chihiro has returned to the moment she first saw the pigs that were supposed to be her parents. At that time, she didn’t think her parents had turned into pigs but ran off to find them.

To “grow up” means to be able to have your own clear will, to be able to judge things for yourself, and to be able to act based on facts without being swayed by the words of others.

Therefore, if there is a message in that story, it would be:

That’s what it would be. It’s truly a film that praises labor.

I could end here, but let’s think a little more.

Conclusion Three: It is We, the Viewers, Who Are Being Deceived

Chihiro was certainly at the mercy of the “words” of those around her, but the same is true for those of us watching the movie. We never actually see the moment Chihiro’s parents turn into pigs.

We are skillfully guided to “Chihiro’s side” by Hayao Miyazaki’s direction and are made to easily accept the situation of “parents turning into pigs.” Of course, we can accept it because it’s an anime, but haven’t we wandered into the world created by Director Miyazaki and been brilliantly “deceived”?

And what does it mean for Chihiro to overcome Yubaba’s “illusion” at the end? It means:

That’s what it would mean. It wasn’t Chihiro who was trapped in the mysterious world, but us.

In a way, it’s preachy, but this might be a self-reflection on the fact that “movies themselves have a negative aspect of deceiving people.”

And let’s think about it one more time here. Did Chihiro’s parents really turn into pigs?

Since it’s “Spirited Away” (Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi), originally Chihiro should have disappeared alone.

As it is, it’s “The Spiriting Away of Chihiro and Her Parents.”

Perhaps the parents did not exist as pigs in that world but were looking for Chihiro in the original world. And for the parents, in what felt like a short time, Chihiro returned.

After all, we were trapped in a mysterious world by the tool of animation. I think it’s a wonderful summer movie that is a little scary and a little mysterious.

I’m sure there were many parts that were inconsistent with the main story, but what I’ve written here is everything I currently think about the final scene.

The images used in this article are from “Studio Ghibli Works Still Images“.