Spirited Away

Chihiro reaches the river and finds that it is no longer just stones but has filled up with water. She is confused and looks across the river, which appears to be extremely wide now, and sees the glowing lights of the amusement park tower far in the distance. She tells herself, “I’m dreaming! I’m dreaming!” (94) and crouches with her hands between her knees in distress. A massive riverboat appears, glowing reddish yellow in the night, and as Chihiro wishes for this bad dream to disappear, she notices that her own hands begin to vanish. She still believes she is dreaming.

The riverboat pulls up to shore beside Chihiro, and countless spirits in matching white masks come floating out of it and move toward the bathhouse. Chihiro runs for cover and begins to cry. Haku finds her there and attempts to comfort her. He tells Chihiro not to be afraid and then hands her some food, explaining, “You have to eat some food from this world or else you’ll disappear” (103). Chihiro refuses, believing she will turn into a pig like her parents, but Haku assures her she will not. She chews and swallows and slowly becomes solid again. She asks Haku if her parents “really turned into pigs” (107), and he does not answer other than to say she cannot see them yet.

Suddenly, a large bird with a human witch’s head flies overhead, making a “fsh” (108) sound. Haku shields Chihiro from its view. He believes the bird is looking for Chihiro and warns her that she must leave. However, she cannot move her legs, so Haku says a spell: “In the name of the wind and water within thee…unbind her” (113). He pulls her up, and they run as fast as they can through the streets, making a “ta ta ta” (117) sound. Haku leads Chihiro into the bathhouse basement, filled with giant fish and huge sauce jars. They then run past a pen full of pigs, and Chihiro looks back, wondering if her parents are in there.  

Haku leads Chihiro to the bridge of the bathhouse and instructs her to hold her breath as she crosses to avoid the spirits seeing her. Countless spirits are crossing to enter the bathhouse, with large gray toads waiting to greet them. Chihiro holds her breath, and as they begin crossing, she notices a strange spirit standing in the middle of the bridge. He is cloaked in black, hovering, and wearing a white mask with a grimace. She later learns that this is a black spirit driven by a need to consume everything in its path, thereby becoming it; Chihiro eventually tames and befriends No-Face. When a tiny green frog jumps up and screams, “Master Haku! Where have you been?” (129), Chihiro is startled and lets out a breath. The frog sees her, and Haku freezes it in mid-air using magic. He takes Chihiro’s hand and dashes with her through the crowd; meanwhile, the frog returns to consciousness in a complete daze.

Haku and Chihiro overhear someone saying they can smell a human nearby. Haku warns Chihiro that she must listen to him carefully and obey his instructions to escape and save her parents. Chihiro finally realizes she was not dreaming, and everything has been real. Haku puts his finger on Chihiro’s forehead and places a vision inside her mind of where he wants her to go: the boiler room, where Kamaji lives. He tells Chihiro to demand that he give her a job, warning, “If you don’t get a job, Yubaba will turn you into an animal” (143). Other workers begin calling for Haku, and he reminds Chihiro that they are friends. She is shocked to hear that he knows her name, and Haku explains that he has known Chihiro since she was very small. Haku goes off to talk to Yubaba about his “mission” (149), and Chihiro makes her way to the boiler room. There is an almost endless and extremely steep flight of stairs outside the bathhouse leading down to it. Chihiro is descending the stairs when suddenly a board collapses under her feet. Terrified, she bursts into a run the rest of the way down. She reaches the boiler room entrance, and Book 1 concludes.