Himiko is set against the backdrop of the foundational myth of Japan, central to Shinto belief and the imperial tradition. The film challenges the idealized origins of the Japanese state through the portrait of Himiko, the prophetess to the Sun God in the ruling kingdom of the Sun God people. Amid antagonism between her kingdom and the Kingdom of the Land and the Kingdom of the Mountains, Himiko must embody the divine principle while navigating the brutal military power of her male rivals. A mortal woman with shamanic power, she is furthermore challenged by her carnal desire for a lone wanderer, making her body a vulnerable site of political and spiritual conflict.

An avant-garde classic of the Japanese New Wave, Himiko addresses the ambiguous and seductive nature of power. Through symbolic imagery, ritualistic butoh performance, stunning costumes, minimalist architecture, and arresting natural sceneries, Shinoda creates a surreal and dreamlike atmosphere in which formal and conceptual associations replace a linear narrative. Enhanced by the soundscape of composer Tōru Takemitsu, Himiko depicts humans’ profound connection with the land and their struggle to create a balanced relationship between political rule and natural and spiritual forces, while also commenting on a rapidly modernising country’s inseparability with its age-old, enigmatic mythological roots.

Masahiro Shinoda (b. 1931, Japan) is a director and a key figure of the Japanese New Wave. He began his career as an assistant director at the Shochiku Studio in 1953 and went on to direct some of the most artistically innovative works of 1960s and 1970s Japanese cinema, subverting the conventions of period pieces and gangster films. He is also known for his frequent collaborations with his wife and actress, Shima Iwashita, in highly experimental films like Double Suicide (1969) and Himiko (1974).