self-drawn illustration of website author, binh nguyen

Binh Nguyen

Web Developer in New York City

@rbtnguyen

Yakul Appreciation Post

A picture of Yakul, the Red Elk from the animated film Princess Mononoke

A few months ago, I went to see the 4K restoration of Princess Mononoke (もののけ姫) in IMAX. This is a very obvious statement but the film is a masterpiece—a term I’ve been told I use a lot, but I confidently deploy here without reservation. My first experience with Princess Mononoke was when I came across it at a Borders bookstore and convinced my parents to buy the DVD (a very NINETEEN NINETIES sentence). Since then I‘ve revisited it a few times, but this was the first time seeing it on the big screen and it remains a miracle to witness.

What stands out to me on every watch is how captivating a character Yakul is. I was initially hesitant to use the word “character” to describe him—just because, for some reason, I‘ve been conditioned not to use that word when referring to a non-speaking, non-human being in film but of course he‘s a character, and a fantastic one at that. Yakul is a “Red Elk” and Ashitaka's trusty steed: loyal, reliable, capable—he rules. Also, what a triumph of animation! It could not have been easy to bring him to life. Yakul probably has more screen time in the film than any character other than Ashitaka or San, yet despite this, he goes unmentioned (as of this writing) on the English Wikipedia page for Princess Mononoke. However, if you input “Yakul” in Wikipedia’s search bar, the entry for Princess Mononoke is the first result that appears. Out of curiosity, I also checked the Japanese version of the page for mentions of Yakul (ヤックル, Yakkuru) and found it referenced a few times.

screenshot of the english language version of the wikipedia home page where searching for the term 'yakul' shows the first result to be the princess mononoke wikipedia page

English Wikpedia page for Princess Mononoke, no “Yakul” found

screenshot of the english language version of the wikipedia home page where searching for the term 'yakul' shows the first result to be the princess mononoke wikipedia page

English Wikipedia search for “Yakul”

screenshot of the japanese language version of the wikipedia page for princess mononoke with a search for the term 'yakul' in japanese showing a few results

Japanese Wikipedia page for Princess Mononoke (もののけ姫), ヤックル found

GOTCHA. Like Ron Burgundy (in the much less seen Anchorman movie), I’ve truly “ripped the lid off it.” Okay, I admit this probably isn’t some conspiracy to erase my guy Yakul from the history of the English-speaking world, but in my humble opinion, we can and should spare a sentence on the English Wikpedia page for trusty-old Yakul.

In the meantime I’ll make space here to express my appreciation for a good boy.

More Yakul, for your viewing pleasure:

a screenshot from from the film princess mononoke where yakul is walking up a grassy hill
a screenshot from from the film princess mononoke where yakul is standing on a rocky mountain at night
a screenshot from from the film princess mononoke where yakul is following san through the forest of the gods carrying an unconscious ashitaka on his back while forest spirits look on
a screenshot from from the film princess mononoke where ashitaka is riding yakul and traversing a lake underwater
a screenshot from from the film princess mononoke where ashitaka and yakul are swimming through a lake with a dead body right next to them

I captured these stills myself but if you’re looking for more, Studio Ghibli provides various stills online from this film and the rest of their filmography here.