


As it transforms into the nightwalker, Eboshi decapitates it. The Forest Spirit euthanizes Okkoto and Moro. Moro intervenes and Ashitaka dives into the corruption, saving San. San tries to stop Okkoto, but is swept up in his demonic corruption. Jigo's men disguise themselves in boar skins and trick the rampaging Okkoto into leading them to the Forest Spirit. The boar clan is annihilated in battle, and Okkoto is corrupted by his wounds. According to legend, the Forest Spirit's head grants immortality.Īshitaka recovers from his wound but remains cursed he returns to Irontown to find it besieged by samurai, and heads out to warn Eboshi. Eboshi prepares for battle and sets out to kill the Forest Spirit with Jigo, who is working for the government she intends to give the god's head to the Emperor in return for protection from Lord Asano. A boar clan, led by the blind boar god Okkoto, plans to attack Irontown to save the forest.

She takes him to the forest, and decides to trust him after the Forest Spirit saves his life. San awakens and prepares to kill the weakened Ashitaka, but hesitates when he tells her that she is beautiful. As he leaves, he is shot by a villager, but the curse gives him the strength to carry San out of the village. San infiltrates Irontown to kill Eboshi, but Ashitaka intervenes, knocking them both unconscious. Eboshi also explains that San was raised by the wolves as one of their own and resents humankind. Irontown is a refuge for social outcasts, including lepers employed to manufacture firearms it was one of these guns that had wounded Nago. In Irontown, Ashitaka learns that Eboshi built the town by clearcutting forests to claim ironsand and produce iron, leading to conflicts with the forest gods and Asano, a local daimyō. Ashitaka discovers two injured Irontown men and carries them through the forest, where he encounters many kodama and glimpses the Forest Spirit. Riding one of the wolves is San, a human girl. Nearby, men herd oxen to Irontown ("Tataraba" in Japanese), led by Lady Eboshi, and repel an attack by a wolf pack led by the wolf goddess Moro. Heading west, Ashitaka meets Jigo ("Jiko-bō" in the original Japanese version), a wandering monk, who tells Ashitaka he may find help from the Great Forest Spirit, a deer-like animal god by day and a giant " nightwalker" by night. The village's wise woman tells Ashitaka that he may find a cure in the western lands Nago came from, but he cannot return to his homeland. The villagers discover that the demon was a boar god, Nago, corrupted by an iron ball lodged in his body. The curse gives him superhuman strength, but will eventually spread through his body and kill him. The last Emishi prince, Ashitaka, kills it before it reaches the village, but its corruption curses his right arm. In Muromachi Japan, an Emishi village is attacked by a demon.
