Himiko

Himiko is a 1974 Japanese fantasy drama film directed by Masahiro Shinoda. It was entered into the 1974 Cannes Film Festival Feature Film Competition. Plot In an unnamed forest, a group of women with white-painted faces and robes wander to a ritual site. One of the women, Himiko, the shaman and translator of the Sun God, lies on the ground while another holds a bronze mirror up which reflects the sun's light. Himiko starts to convulse and moan, imitating an orgasm which symbolizes the Sun God penetrating her body. We see several different tribes, one of the Land People, and one of the Mountain People. The Mountain People are a raggedy, unsightly group, all conjoined together by a single rope, and donned with haunting makeup consisting of heavy paint, cobwebs and strings. They wander around the mountain like insects, twitching and in almost no control of their own limbs and muscles. A lone traveler appears, named Takehiko, from the far side of the mountain and enters the forest. Himiko spends her days weaving cloth on a loom. She hears of Takehiko's arrival and it pleases her. In a ritual, the king of the Sun-God People, Ohkimi, holds a meeting to discuss the visions of the Sun God seen by Himiko. He also discusses the possibility of Mimaki as his own successor to the throne. Mimaki is pleased at this, but Nashime, servant to Himiko, believes that Himiko will be the successor herself, as direct orders from the Sun God. Mimaki is suspicious of this. He confides in his brother Ikume and King Ohkimi and tells them that Himiko might be losing her ability to communicate properly with the Sun God. That her love for Takehiko, a sympathizer of the Land God People, is not allowing her to translate the Sun God's words properly. Mimaki also states that he believes the Land God and the Mountain God are false Gods because they believe that God is in all things and any human being and living creature is able to communicate with God, and the only way for the Sun God People's kingdom to prosper is to take over the Mountain and Land People's kingdoms and force them to believe in only the Sun God. Anyone who resists will be killed. In the forest, during a ritual, Himiko sees Takehiko hiding behind a tree, and engages in conversation with him. Nearby, Adahime, one of Himiko's assistants in the ritual, overhears them. Takehiko comes to the kingdom of the Sun-God people and meets Himiko in her quarters after dark. Himiko reveals that Takehiko is her half-brother.