Miyazaki’s Nausicaa

Miyazaki has written: “I have been fascinated by her ever since I first read about her in Bernard Evslin’s Japanese translation of a small dictionary of Greek mythology.  Later, when I actually read the Odyssey, I was disappointed not to find the same splendor in her there as I had found in Evslin’s book.  Nausicaa reminded me of a Japanese heroine [in the Heian period, 794-1185] -- she was called the ‘princess that loved insects.’ …Unconsciously, Nausicaa and this Japanese princess became one person in my mind.”