Human-faced dragon is commonly featured in various mythologies and folklores around the world.He is not seen again in the film after this. After pulling a bicycle (among countless other man-made artifacts) from his body, the River Spirit shows gratitude by giving Chihiro a famous, emetic herbs medicine and leaves the bathhouse happily in his original form, leaving a generous amount of gold as tips for the workers. In hopes to save himself from the pain of being grounded by human waste, the River Spirit visits the Bathhouse where Chihiro helps him take a bath. Due to humans consistently dumping their trash and filth into his river, the River Spirit was transformed into a filthy, muddy creature called a Stink Spirit that leaves a trail of sludge wherever he walks. The River Spirit is assumed to be the spirit of a very large and powerful river in the Human World. He is also generous, leaving a great amount of gold pieces on the ground as a tip to the Bathhouse workers for their service to him. He is shown to be very energetic once freed of his polluted burden and displays a hefty amount of gratitude to Chihiro, who freed him, by giving her a famous type of medicine as thanks. It is known that he is a very rich and powerful spirit with much influence in the Spirit Realm. Not much of the River Spirit's personality is made apparent in the film. After being relieved of all the human-made trash that had clogged up his body, the unnamed River Spirit was freed from all the gunk he was carrying and revealed himself to be a grand spirit. However, Yubaba notes that he didn't seem like a stink spirit and ordered Chihiro Ogino to wash him in the Big Tub. In his first introduction in the film, the River Spirit is shown to be a disgusting, grimy, muck-infested spirit mistaken to be a "stink spirit" by many. Since Miyazaki is concerned with the ecology of his characters, he is guilty as charged of having a powerful environmental and spiritual message at play in this film.By his appearance, he is an extremely old river god, evident by the countless wrinkles on his face, white-colored eyebrows and the thinning amounts of facial hair and lack of teeth, the River Spirit is revealed to have a water-based, dragon-like body in his original form with multiple, wiry, avian legs. Environment and character are not separate, but become parts of the same motif. With its central role of this element in Shinto tradition, Spirited Away would seem to have a quintessentially Japanese cultural message that the road home to reunion with one’s true name, soul and life path, is a profoundly purifying experience. The sign of Water governs Chihiro’s quest. Kawa no Kami is Chihiro’s revelation of her own ability (she even receives a hug from Yubaba) and it is the first phase of her recollection of the river incident of her childhood (and thus the road to recovering Haku’s real name). I see this as an extension of Kawa no Kami, the God of the Rivers who becomes an ally of Chihiro’s when she rises to the challenge of *successfully* bathing him. When Haku’s full name to Nigihayami Kohakunushi is restored, Memory is the purifying agent here. The clotted River, like the Haku’s re-inscribed name, violates the natural order and requires ritual purification if balance is to be restored. Kami have purifying rituals to purge the dirt, presumably, of human misuse of their gifts. Since “Yubaba’s bathhouse has the important function of helping the deities regain their strength and feel rejuvenated before returning to the human world” (15) and the act of “soaking oneself in pure water is thought to have a powerful cleansing effect in Shinto” (15) the bath scene with the Stink God reveals the relationship of the underlying order governing the ikai in the context of a strong reference to Shinto tradition. When the Stink God visits Yubaba’s bathhouse it is revealed to be Kawa no Kami, the God of the Rivers, as the result of a purification ritual. In that sense the river is present as part of Chihiro’s quest and frames it. The motif of the river is present throughout the film Spirited Away since Chihiro’s kindred spirit is a river god who has saved her as a child.
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