Background art plays a particularly important role in the production of animation, as it vividly captures and conveys the atmosphere of each work’s particular time and place. It not only establishes the physical setting in which the story unfolds, but also contributes significantly to the mood and emotional impact of each scene. For this reason, background art is often produced by specialized artists working under the direction of an art director. In the production of Princess Mononoke, five background artists were involved, including the lead background artist Yamamoto Nizo (1953–2023), who was primarily responsible for the background art depicting Shishigami no Mori (Forest of the Deer God). To capture the atmosphere of the forest depicted in the film, animators and background artists from Studio Ghibli are known to have visited Yakushima Island. The island’s towering trees, moss-covered rocks and distinctive sense of age and depth provided important visual inspiration for the forest in the film. Through careful observation of the natural environment, these artists were able to translate the distinctive atmosphere of Yakushima into the painted backgrounds of Princess Mononoke, giving the forest a vivid sense of presence and making it feel like a living part of the film’s world.