2 ms·

I had a Japanese teacher who liked to talk about how surprised she was about the title in English. She also gave me a little insight into the word 神隠し which,

I had a Japanese teacher who liked to talk about how surprised she was about the title in English. She also gave me a little insight into the word 神隠し which, apparently comes from a saying. When children used to go missing, people used to say that "God snatched them away", which is why the first kanji 神 is 'god'. Her translation of the title was "God snatched sen & chihiro away" which of course isn't a literal translation, but I thought it was interesting

lupus9 3y ago
"In Japanese folklore, spiriting away (Japanese: Kamikakushi (神隠し), lit. 'hidden by kami') refers to the mysterious disappearance or death of a person, after they had angered the gods (kami). There are numerous legends of humans being abducted to the spirit world by kami." [0] [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_away?wprov=sfti1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_away?wprov=sfti1
Blikkentrekker 3y ago
It should be noted that “神” can probably better be translated as “spirit” in many contexts, and denotes a wide variety of supernatural beings, which actually makes “spirited away” an interesting choice.