Hideo Kojima and More Pay Tribute to Akihiro Miwa, the Iconic Japanese Singer and Actor Behind Wolf Goddess Moro in Princess Mononoke, Who Has Died Aged 91

Japanese quality sources including Mainichi announced implicit the play that iconic Japanese vocalist and histrion Akihiro Miwa passed distant aged 91 connected June 20.

Miwa lent his distinctive dependable to Studio Ghibli’s Princess Mononoke and Howl’s Moving Castle anime movies, playing wolf goddess Moro and the Witch of the Waste respectively.

A flamboyant singer, actor, writer and resistance queen, Miwa was a household sanction successful Japan with a varied vocation spanning implicit 7 decades. Starting retired arsenic a cabaret vocalist of French chanson successful the 1950s, Miwa was 1 of the country’s archetypal openly cheery celebrities successful the postwar period. As good arsenic releasing deed songs similar 1964’s Yoitomake nary Uta, Miwa besides played pb pistillate roles successful unrecorded enactment films similar the titular femme fatale thief successful 1968’s Black Lizard, by Battle Royale manager Kinji Fukasaku.

R.I.P. Akihiro Miwa (1935–2026), legendary chanteur, histrion & resistance queen. Star of Terayama’s "La Marie-Vison" and Mishima’s "Black Lizard", Miwa survived Nagasaki and championed pacifism. Miwa besides voiced Moro successful MONONOKE and was among Japan’s archetypal openly cheery nationalist figures. pic.twitter.com/m53I4I3nzy

— Japan Society Film (@js_film_nyc) June 28, 2026

A subsister of the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb, Miwa was powerfully anti-war and captious of movements to revise the pacifistic Article 9 of the Japanese constitution. As good arsenic voicing characters for Studio Ghibli movies, Miwa besides voiced Arceus successful the 2009 movie Pokémon: Arceus and the Jewel of Life.

Miwa often appeared connected Japanese vigor and TV, including play speech amusement Aura nary Izumi (2005-2010), which interviewed celebrities but with a spiritual slant. He continued to execute concerts and speech shows up until 2019, erstwhile helium suffered a stroke. After recovering, Miwa reprised his play Sunday vigor spot until March 2020, and continued to marque occasional TV appearances.

NTV quality published a peculiar last connection from Miwa: “In this world, the lone limb we person for endurance is words of love. The cardinal to solving each of the world’s problems is love. If we person love, past determination would beryllium nary war.”

美輪明宏さんの黒蜥蜴は、一度観たら忘れられない。
あの妖しさも美しさも、本当に唯一無二。pic.twitter.com/faUj0Hcwom

— TLで拾った変な宝石 (@tlhouseki311) June 28, 2026

Anime dependable actors mentioned however encouraging words from Akihiro Miwa had uplifted them done their careers. Veteran VA Megumi Ogata (known for playing Sailor Uranus successful Sailor Moon and Shinji Ikari successful Neon Genesis Evangelion) commented connected X that Miwa’s words had saved her galore times. “This last connection volition besides instrumentality with maine arsenic I determination forward,” Ogata said, adding that Miwa was “a genuinely unsocial person.”

Another well-known VA, Fumi Hirano (who played Lum successful Urusei Yatsura), shared a clip of Miwa’s laughter making manager Hayao Miyazaki ace up. She mentioned being a instrumentality of Miwa since influential creator Junichi Nakahara started utilizing Miwa arsenic a exemplary successful the precocious 1950s. “When we yet met, (Miwa said), ‘You bash specified good work.’ Taking pridefulness successful these words has enabled maine to unrecorded my beingness similar this.”

— hiranofumi　平野文です (@hiranofumi) June 28, 2026

Metal Gear Solid and Death Stranding creator Hideo Kojima chimed successful that Miwa’s passing prompted him to see rewatching 1968’s Black Lizard oregon its sequel Black Rose Mansion.

Tonight, I was readying to revisit Jeannot Szwarc’s “Supergirl” (1984) for the archetypal clip successful implicit 40 years. But aft proceeding of Akihiro Miwa’s passing, I’m reasoning of revisiting Kinji Fukasaku’s “Black Lizard” (1968) bid instead. Maybe I’ll watch, “Black Rose Mansion”… pic.twitter.com/RF58iG7VnS

— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) June 28, 2026

Photo by Tomokazu Tazawa/WireImage.

Verity Townsend is simply a Japan-based freelance writer who antecedently served arsenic editor, contributor and translator for the crippled quality tract Automaton West. She has besides written astir Japanese civilization and movies for assorted publications.