What is “The Princess Who Loved Insects?
It is a story in “Tsutsumi Chunagon Monogatari”, which was written at the end of the 12th century. Miyazaki took an inspiration from the princess in this story to create “Nausicaä”. This princess was quite eccentric – she didn’t dye her teeth black, she didn’t shave her eyebrows off, and she was tanned since she actually went outside (this is the equivalent of going around naked today). She loved insects and worms, while other princesses loved butterflies. But she was incredibly intelligent and perceptive (from our standpoint). She said “Beauty is only superficial. You have to see the real nature of things to understand them”, and loved to watch caterpillars changing into pupas. When her parents tried to persuade her to give up her “hobbies”, she replied, “To understand anything, you have to look into it deeply, and see it through from the beginning to the end. This caterpillar will become a butterfly someday. The silks you are wearing came from silkworms, too.” Miyazaki wondered how t
