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The Wind Rises: the story on HearLore | HearLore
Common questions
Who is the main character in The Wind Rises?
The main character in The Wind Rises is Jiro Horikoshi, a young aircraft designer who dreams of building beautiful planes but cannot fly due to his nearsightedness. He spends his life creating aircraft for the Imperial Navy, including the Mitsubishi Ka-14 and the A6M Zero fighter.
When was The Wind Rises released in Japan?
The Wind Rises was released in Japan on the 20th of July 2013. It became the highest-grossing Japanese film of 2013 and was distributed internationally by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures through its Touchstone Pictures banner.
What is the source material for The Wind Rises?
The Wind Rises is based on Hayao Miyazaki's 2009 manga of the same name, which continues his Delusional Notes series. The story draws from Tatsuo Hori's 1937 semi-autobiographical novel The Wind Has Risen and incorporates historical accounts of Horikoshi's aircraft development up to 1935.
Who composed the music for The Wind Rises?
The 32-track film score for The Wind Rises was composed and conducted by Joe Hisaishi and performed by the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra. The soundtrack also includes Yumi Matsutoya's 1973 song Hikō-ki Gumo and was released in Japan on the 17th of July 2013 by Tokuma Japan Communications.
Why did Hayao Miyazaki create The Wind Rises?
Hayao Miyazaki created The Wind Rises as a personal project inspired by a quote from Jiro Horikoshi stating that he only wanted to make something beautiful. The film explores the relationship between art and war, and the cost of progress, while serving as Miyazaki's final feature before he reversed his decision to retire.
In 1918, a young Jiro Horikoshi stood in a Tokyo classroom, his eyes fixed on a magazine illustration of a flying machine, unaware that his nearsightedness would forever bar him from the cockpit. He dreamed of soaring through the skies, but the physical limitation of his vision forced him to pivot toward the ground, where he would spend his life building the very vessels he could never fly. This contradiction defined his existence: a man who could not fly, yet whose creations would carry the weight of a nation into war. His early dreams were not of combat, but of beauty, inspired by the Italian aircraft designer Giovanni Battista Caproni, who appeared to him in recurring visions. Caproni, a man who had never piloted a plane himself, told the young Jiro that building planes was superior to flying them, a philosophy that would become the cornerstone of Jiro's life. The Great Kantō earthquake of 1923 shattered the city, and in the chaos, Jiro met a young girl named Nahoko Satomi, whose broken leg he helped carry to safety. They exchanged no names, yet their paths were destined to cross again, weaving a personal tragedy into the broader tapestry of Japan's industrial rise. This meeting, occurring just as the world was reeling from the earthquake, set the stage for a life that would be defined by both the pursuit of perfection and the inevitability of loss.
Engineering The Zero
By 1925, Jiro Horikoshi had graduated from Tokyo Imperial University and entered the workforce at Mitsubishi, where he and his friend Kiro Honjo were tasked with perfecting the Mitsubishi 1MF9 fighter plane. The project ended in disaster when the aircraft broke apart mid-air during a test, a failure that nearly derailed their careers. The Great Depression had left Japan's aeronautical technology years behind the rest of the world, and the men were sent to the Weimar Republic in 1929 to secure a production license for the Junkers G.38 bomber. Although Hugo Junkers welcomed them, the Sicherheitspolizei blocked their access to complete plans, leaving them with only fragments of knowledge. Jiro returned to Japan, disillusioned, while Honjo stayed behind to develop the Mitsubishi G4M. The failure of the 1MF10 in 1933 forced Jiro to take a vacation in Karuizawa, where he reunited with Nahoko, now an adult. Their romance blossomed, aided by a German tourist named Castorp, who warned Jiro of the rising tide of Nazism in Europe. Castorp, a caricature of Stephen Alpert, a former Ghibli executive, fled arrest from the Special Higher Police, leaving Jiro to grapple with the moral implications of his work. The tension between the beauty of flight and the brutality of war began to take shape, as Jiro's designs were increasingly demanded by the Imperial Navy for military purposes.
In early 1932, Jiro was promoted to chief designer for a fighter plane competition, but his design, the Mitsubishi 1MF10, failed testing in 1933. Disappointed, he took a vacation at a summer resort in Karuizawa, where he reunited with Nahoko, who had been searching for him since their first meeting. The two quickly developed a romance, assisted by a German tourist named Castorp, who warned Jiro of the rising tide of Nazism in Europe. Castorp, a caricature of Stephen Alpert, a former Ghibli executive, fled arrest from the Special Higher Police, leaving Jiro to grapple with the moral implications of his work. Nahoko was diagnosed with tuberculosis, and Jiro asked her father for his blessing to marry her. They were engaged, but Nahoko wished to wait until she recovered to marry, and moved back in with her family. Jiro, wanted in connection with Castorp, hid at his supervisor Kurokawa's home while he worked on a new fighter project for the Imperial Navy. Nahoko's health deteriorated, and she returned to be with Jiro, despite the warnings of his sister Kayo, a doctor, who predicted that their marriage would end tragically. The couple's fleeting time together was filled with joy, but the shadow of death loomed over them. Nahoko's pulmonary haemorrhage forced her to check into a mountain sanatorium, but she could not bear being apart from Jiro and returned to be with him. Kurokawa and his wife married the two, and the couple stayed in their home with Nahoko's father's permission. The love story was a bittersweet interlude, a moment of beauty in a world that was rapidly descending into chaos.
The Final Flight
Jiro left for the test flight of his new prototype aeroplane, the Mitsubishi Ka-14, knowing that Nahoko would die soon. She left farewell letters for Jiro, her family, and friends, and discreetly left the house in a vain attempt to return to the sanatorium. At the test site, Jiro was distracted from his success by a gust of wind, suggesting Nahoko's passing. The plane, the Mitsubishi Ka-14, was a testament to his skill, but the victory was hollow. In 1945, after Japan had lost World War II, Jiro dreamed of Caproni again, regretting that his plane was used for war. Caproni comforted him, saying that Jiro's dream of building beautiful aeroplanes was nonetheless realised, in the form of his masterpiece, the A6M 'Zero' fighter. Nahoko's spirit also appeared, encouraging her husband to live on. After her spirit departed, Jiro and Caproni walked together into their shared kingdom of dreams. The Zero fighter, which had become a symbol of Japanese military prowess, was now a source of regret for Jiro, who had always sought to create something beautiful. The film ends with a sense of closure, but also with a lingering question about the cost of progress. The wind had risen, and with it, the weight of history.
The Director's Burden
Hayao Miyazaki, the director of The Wind Rises, had intended this film to be his final feature before reversing his decision and eventually directing The Boy and the Heron. The film was based on his 2009 manga of the same name, which was a continuation of his Delusional Notes series. The title is an allusion to Paul Valéry's 1920 poem 'Le Cimetière Marin' (The Graveyard by the Sea), and the film also references Tatsuo Hori's 1937 semi-autobiographical novel The Wind Has Risen. The manga portrayed certain characters as anthropomorphised pigs, employing a design reminiscent of that seen in Miyazaki's film Porco Rosso (1992). The story in the manga follows the historical account of Horikoshi's aircraft development up to 1935, and intertwines with fictional encounters with Caproni and Nahoko Satomi. The scenes with Nahoko in the manga included elements from the novel The Wind Has Risen, in which Tatsuo Hori wrote about his life experience with his fiancée, Ayako Yano, before she died from tuberculosis. The name Nahoko Satomi was created from the female protagonist of another novel by Tatsuo Hori, Nahoko. Characters frequently discuss Thomas Mann's novel The Magic Mountain, and, in a letter to Nahoko, Jiro names his fleeing German friend 'Mr. Castorp' after its protagonist. The character himself is a caricature of Stephen Alpert, who was once the executive director of Ghibli's international division. He left the company in 2011 for personal reasons, but was instrumental in Ghibli's overseas expansion. He was asked to return to Japan to model for the character's appearance and a suitable voice. Miyazaki's decision to make the film was influenced by a quote from Horikoshi: 'All I wanted to do was to make something beautiful.' The film was a personal project for Miyazaki, who had wanted his next film to be a sequel to Ponyo, but producer Toshio Suzuki proposed to adapt the manga The Wind Has Risen instead. At first, Miyazaki rejected the proposal because he created the manga as a hobby and considered its subjects not suitable for children, the traditional audience of Studio Ghibli's features. However, he changed his mind when a staff member suggested that 'children should be allowed to be exposed to subjects they are not familiar with.' The film was a complex exploration of the relationship between art and war, and the cost of progress.
A Soundtrack Of Loss
The 32-track film score was composed and conducted by Joe Hisaishi, and performed by the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra. The film also includes singer-songwriter Yumi Matsutoya's 1973 song 'Hikō-ki Gumo'. Matsutoya had collaborated with Studio Ghibli on Kiki's Delivery Service, which features her songs 'Kiki's Delivery Service' and 'Kiki's Delivery Service'. Producer Suzuki recommended 'Hikō-ki Gumo' to Miyazaki in December 2012, feeling the lyrics resembled the story of The Wind Rises. 'Das gibt's nur einmal' (English: It only happens once) is the German song Hans Castorp sings while playing the piano at Hotel Kusakaru in the film. The film's soundtrack was released in Japan on the 17th of July 2013 by Tokuma Japan Communications. The music was a crucial element of the film, providing a emotional backdrop to the story. The score by Joe Hisaishi recalls Nino Rota in its lilting accordion-and-mandolin main theme, and was described as a 'romantic orchestral score' by Dana Stevens of Slate. The music was a key part of the film's success, and was praised by critics for its ability to capture the emotional depth of the story. The soundtrack was a testament to the collaboration between Miyazaki and Hisaishi, who had worked together on many previous films. The music was a key part of the film's success, and was praised by critics for its ability to capture the emotional depth of the story. The soundtrack was a key part of the film's success, and was praised by critics for its ability to capture the emotional depth of the story.
The Controversial Legacy
In Japan, The Wind Rises received criticism from both the Japanese political right and from the Japan Society for Tobacco Control. Miyazaki added to the controversy by publishing an essay in which he criticised the proposal by Japan's right-wing Liberal Democratic Party to change Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution to allow Japan to remilitarise. Miyazaki also attracted political criticism from South Korean internet users, who argued that the Zero represents Japanese military aggression and that many planes were assembled by Korean forced labour. Miyazaki told South Korean journalists that '[Horikoshi] was someone who resisted demands from the military...I wonder if he should be liable for anything just because he lived in that period.' In an interview with the Asahi Shimbun, Miyazaki said he had 'very complex feelings' about World War II since, as a pacifist, he felt militarist Japan had acted out of 'foolish arrogance'. However, he also said that the Zero plane 'represented one of the few things we Japanese could be proud of, [they] were a truly formidable presence, and so were the pilots who flew them.' The film was a complex exploration of the relationship between art and war, and the cost of progress. The controversy surrounding the film was a testament to the complexity of the subject matter, and the difficulty of addressing such a sensitive topic in a public forum. The film was a personal project for Miyazaki, who had wanted his next film to be a sequel to Ponyo, but producer Toshio Suzuki proposed to adapt the manga The Wind Has Risen instead. At first, Miyazaki rejected the proposal because he created the manga as a hobby and considered its subjects not suitable for children, the traditional audience of Studio Ghibli's features. However, he changed his mind when a staff member suggested that 'children should be allowed to be exposed to subjects they are not familiar with.' The film was a complex exploration of the relationship between art and war, and the cost of progress.
A Swan Song For Animation
The film was released on the 20th of July 2013 in Japan, and was the highest-grossing Japanese film of 2013. It played in competition at the 70th Venice International Film Festival, and had its official North American premiere at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival, although a sneak preview was presented earlier at the 2013 Telluride Film Festival, outside of the official program. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures distributed the film in North America through its Touchstone Pictures banner. English dubbing was directed by Gary Rydstrom. Disney held a one-week release window in the Los Angeles theatrical circuit beginning on the 8th of November 2013, so that it could qualify for Academy Awards consideration. It was released theatrically on the 21st of February 2014 in select cities, with wide release on the 28th of February. It was released in the United Kingdom on the 9th of May 2014 by StudioCanal. The film was nominated for several awards, including the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and the Japan Academy Prize for Animation of the Year, winning the latter. The film was a critical success, with 88% of 182 critics' reviews being positive on Rotten Tomatoes, and an average rating of 8.0/10. The website's consensus reads: 'The Wind Rises is a fittingly bittersweet swan song for director Hayao Miyazaki.' The film was a testament to the power of animation, and the ability of the medium to explore complex themes. The film was a personal project for Miyazaki, who had wanted his next film to be a sequel to Ponyo, but producer Toshio Suzuki proposed to adapt the manga The Wind Has Risen instead. At first, Miyazaki rejected the proposal because he created the manga as a hobby and considered its subjects not suitable for children, the traditional audience of Studio Ghibli's features. However, he changed his mind when a staff member suggested that 'children should be allowed to be exposed to subjects they are not familiar with.' The film was a complex exploration of the relationship between art and war, and the cost of progress.