Mushishi: Ginko representing Kant's "Enlightenment"
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| Mushishi |
In Humanities core, we learned about Immanuel Kant. From my understanding, Kant argues that the Enlightenment is when a person leaves from the “minority,” that they inflict upon themselves. The “minority” is the part of society that does not improve their comprehension without the help of another. After learning about Immanuel Kant, I found connections between his philosophy and the show “Mushishi.”
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| Ginko |
“Mushishi” is a show that centers around the main character, Ginko, and mysterious creatures called Mushi. Mushi are the most basic form of life, that mimic nature and come in a variety of shapes. They are only able to be seen by a few people and exist as plants, diseases or even phenomena as rainbows. Little is known about the Mushi and Mushishis are people who study the Mushi to find out what Mushi are and why they exist. Ginko is a mushishi and tries to study the Mushi for an answer to these questions. Based on Kant’s philosophy, Ginko would not be part of the minority and would be part of the “enlightened.” An example of his willingness to learn is during episode 20, “A Sea of Writings.” Ginko finds a woman named Tanyuu Karibusa, who is the cursed recorder. She records and archives stories from other mushishi about their experiences with Mushi. Since Ginko wants access to this information to learn about the Mushi, he makes a deal with Tanyuu, which allows him to learn about new Mushi quicker than if he were to find and study the Mushi on his own. By gaining access to the archive through contributing his own stories, Ginko illustrates Kant’s idea of a person who is not in the minority. While episode 20 does not illustrate learning without others, “Mushishi Special: Hihamukage” displays Ginko learning through his job on his travels. During his job of helping a village, Ginko finds a girl who cannot be in the sun due to a mushi. He states that there is no known cure for the mushi, but decides to help her anyways as he is altruistic and wants to be able to contribute to the general knowledge of the mushishis.
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| Miharu |
Another example of Ginko’s search for information on the Mushi is episode 15, “Pretense of Spring.” In “Pretense of Spring,” Ginko finds a cabin in the snowy mountains. The cabin is inhabited by a woman, Suzu, and her little brother, Miharu, who wanders on in the winter and comes back to fall asleep until spring. Ginko’s curiosity on how this occurs and how it may be related to Mushi sets Ginko to intervene in the Miharu’s actions. Through a series of events, Ginko learns from Miharu of a type of Mushi that he has not encountered himself, and although Miharu is the reason Ginko approached this mushi, Ginko still arrives upon this discovery on his own understanding, rather than memorizing information from another by experiencing the mushi. Not only does this episode describe how Ginko is not part of the “minority,” but it also illustrates the enlightenment of man as Miharu learns at the end of the episode. Miharu is generally unknowledgable on other types of Mushi, thinking that all Mushi are similar to insects or animals that are safe to be near. At the end of the episode, when Ginko learns about the mushi, Miharu learns that the Mushi are not friends of humans, but are just an “odd neighbor,” although Ginko says that it is alright to still like the Mushi.
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| Tanyuu Karibusa |
Contrary to the main character, the people that he sometimes interacts with ignore his warnings that would keep them safe or return them to normal, leading to disasters without his intervention. These people present a representation of Kant’s idea of the “minority,” since they actively decide to remain ignorant to the issues concerning them. In episode 4, “The Pillow Pathway,” a blacksmith, Jin, has the power to make his dreams reality in his sleep due to mushi. Ginko warns Jin to take medicine if he were to have these dreams at least 5 times a week. Despite Ginko’s advice, Jin leaves the final dose of medicine and because of his stubbornness, his fellow villagers die because of a nightmare he has. Jin represents the “minority” because does not research his ability and merely believes that his dreams are prophetic. Without Ginko’s intervention, everyone that Jin interacted with dies from his nightmare as Jin does not find an issue with his dreams, even with Ginko telling Jin that it would be in his best interest to take the medicine.
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| Jin |
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