{"id":3751,"date":"2026-01-02T09:00:53","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T16:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=3751"},"modified":"2026-01-02T09:00:53","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T16:00:53","slug":"hayao-miyazaki-says-happy-new-year-to-studio-ghibli-fans-with-new-art-for-year-of-the-horse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=3751","title":{"rendered":"Hayao Miyazaki says Happy New Year to Studio Ghibli fans with new art for Year of the Horse"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

2026 nengajo drawing comes with a never-before-seen photo of the legendary anime director.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

There are many things we look forward to at the start of a new year in Japan, like lucky bags<\/a>, special foods<\/a>, and New Year\u2019s cards known as nengajo<\/strong>, which are commonly sent to relatives, friends and colleagues to wish them good tidings for the upcoming year.<\/p>\n

Though nengajo have seen a decline since the rise of social media messaging<\/a>, one person who still keeps the tradition alive is Hayao Miyazaki<\/strong>. Every year, Studio Ghibli<\/strong>, the anime studio Miyazaki co-founded in 1985 with fellow director Isao Takahata<\/strong> and producer Toshio Suzuki<\/strong>,\u00a0publishes a digital nengajo for fans featuring artwork drawn by Miyazaki, with the new year\u2019s zodiac animal being a recurring main theme<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u25bc In 2024, Miyazaki created this artwork for the Year of the Dragon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u25bc And in 2025, Miyazaki created this artwork for the Year of the Dragon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u25bc This year, the studio is sending us all good wishes for the Year of the Horse in 2026<\/strong>, with new artwork from Miyazaki.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The studio\u2019s latest nengajo takes a slightly different design approach to previous years, featuring a digitally drawn ema<\/strong> as the base for Miyazaki\u2019s horse artwork. The inclusion of an ema is particularly significant, as the word literally means \u201cpicture horse<\/strong>\u201c, being made up of the kanji characters \u7d75 (e, \u201cpicture<\/strong>\u201d) and \u99ac (ma, \u201chorse<\/strong>\u201d). These days, ema are small wooden votive tablets on which people write wishes or prayers and hang them at shrines and temples, but their name comes from the ancient practice of dedicating horses to the gods instead of plaques, making its appearance a clever nod to the ema\u2019s equine history.<\/p>\n

\u25bc A much easier way to express your wishes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The horse-and-ema association on Studio Ghibli\u2019s nengajo comes with the traditional greeting \u201c\u8b39\u8cc0\u65b0\u5e74\u201d (\u201cKingashinnen\u201d or \u201cHappy New Year\u201d), and\u00a0is accompanied by the following message from the studio:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cWe would like to extend our best wishes for the New Year to everyone. <\/em>
\nThank you for your continued support of Studio Ghibli.<\/em><\/p>\n

Getting right into it, here is a photo of director Hayao Miyazaki and producer Toshio Suzuki.<\/em>
\nIt was last December, and the two of them were discussing matters related to the year 2026.<\/em>
\nAll of our staff will be thinking of ways to bring enjoyment to everyone this year as well, so please look forward to it.<\/em><\/p>\n

Thank you for your continued support this year. <\/em>
\n2026.01.01\u2033<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The photo above, included with the message, gives us an updated look at the famously elusive Miyazaki, in a moment of downtime with his longtime associate and friend. We haven\u2019t seen Miyazaki since his Oscar-related chat with Suzuki in 2024<\/a>, so this update will come as welcome news to Ghibli fans as the director approaches his 85th birthday on 5 January.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s heartwarming to see the studio share not only a new illustration from Miyazaki but a photo of the man himself as well, taken at Studio One at Ghibli\u2019s Mitaka in Tokyo. The longstanding tradition of receiving New Year\u2019s wishes from the studio has been delighting fans since 2021<\/a>, and long may it continue into the future!<\/p>\n

Source: Studio Ghibli<\/a><\/em>
\nTop image\u00a9SoraNews24<\/em>
\nInsert images: Studio Ghibli (1<\/a>, 2<\/a>, 3<\/a>) Pakutaso<\/a><\/em>
\n\u25cf Want to hear about SoraNews24\u2019s latest articles as soon as they\u2019re published? Follow us on Facebook<\/a> and Twitter<\/a>!<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2026 nengajo drawing comes with a never-before-seen photo of the legendary anime director. There are many things we look forward to at the start of a new year in Japan,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3751\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}