Jigo

Jigo or Jiko Bō (ジコ坊, lit. "Jiko the man/priest") in Japanese is a character from Princess Mononoke.

Appearance
He first appears as Ashitaka's ally, but is later revealed to be the hidden antagonist, wanting to present the Forest Spirit's severed head to the Emperor Mikado so that he could be paid handsomely. It is said the head has the power of eternal youth. He is the leader of the mysterious organization Karakasa-Ren (唐笠連, lit. "The Alliance of umbrella") which, along with Ishibiya-Shū (石火矢衆, lit. "cannon guys") and Jibashiri (ジバシリ) the specialized hunters, was a subsidiary body under Shishō-Ren (師匠連, lit. The Alliance of Lords), a secret society serves the emperor and the royal court. Jiko was also a member of Shishō-Ren.

Background
Jigo pretends to be a knowledgeable monk and initially helped Ashitaka by giving him information about the Forest Spirit while being pessimistic about the state of the world.

In his next appearance, it's revealed that he's hunting the Forest Spirit with permission from the Emperor and he also has platoons of Riflemen along with Hunters working for him. Jigo gets Lady Eboshi to help him slay the Forest Spirit after telling her she owes him for letting her use his Riflemen to help kill Nago. Jigo and Eboshi manage to track the Forest Spirit to its lake in the middle of the forest and Jigo lets Eboshi kill it, claiming it's best to let others do the work of killing gods. Jigo takes the severed head of the Forest Spirit and tries to flee the destruction that the Forest Spirit's death was inflicting on the world. Knowing that the Forest Spirit's wrath would only be quenched if it reclaimed its head, Ashitaka and San confront Jigo, who claims it'll be over when the sunrise comes and destroys the Night Walker. Jigo tries to fight them off while his men escape with the head. However, that plan fails when the head's container is dropped and Jigo, Ashitaka and San are surrounded by the Forest Spirit's corruption. Left with no other choice, Jigo surrenders the head and the Forest Spirit ceases its destruction.

Trivia

 * His name is based on Greville's bolete in a dialect of Suwa, Nagano where Hayao Miyazaki has a villa.
 * Hayao Miyazaki noted in an interview that Jiko represents "Japanese people".
 * The camp scene by Ashitaka and Jiko is presumably based on similar scenes in The Journey of Shuna where Shuna was voiced by Yoji Matsuda who voiced Ashitaka.
 * It is implied that Jiko was possibly a nobility because of several depictions.
 * He was a member of Shishō-Ren, and was in the position to receive a royal charter from the emperor.
 * He was under an order by nobilities to seek Forest Spirit's head.
 * He offered miso to Ashitaka without a hesitation where miso was very expensive and rare in that time.
 * He had luxury kitchenware.
 * He was aware of the value of placer golds.
 * He had strong connections and sources of funds.
 * He was aware of Emishi's cultures and red elk where he noted that he had read about them in old literatures; only limited people could access to such literatures in that time.

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Jigo もののけ姫