MineArchive
Irontown
Fictional record. This page describes a mine from a fictional setting, not a real place. Information is based on the cited canon, with adaptations and interpretation distinguished where necessary. It is kept separate from the real MineArchive corpus — see Fictional.
| Also known as | Tataraba, Tatara Ba |
|---|---|
| Setting | Princess Mononoke (Hayao Miyazaki / Studio Ghibli) |
| Location | A walled settlement beside a lake in the forested mountains of medieval Japan, in Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke (1997). |
| Type | Iron (ironsand) workings and tatara smelting town |
| Worked | ? – Destroyed by the Nightwalker at the film's climax, then rebuilt |
| Extent | A fortified town protected by a lake and high walls, with tatara furnaces worked by bellows, a forge in the 'secret garden', and workings on the deforested hills from which ore is carried in. |
| Controlled by | Lady Eboshi (At the time of the film) |
Overview
Tataraba, 'the tatara furnace ground', translated Irontown: Lady Eboshi's fortified ironmaking town in Princess Mononoke, which strips the hills for iron, smelts it in great bellows-blown furnaces and forges guns, and so fights a war with the gods of the forest.
History
Lady Eboshi rules Irontown as both a refuge and a works: its furnaces are worked by former prostitutes she has given a living, and its guns are made by lepers she has taken in. To get iron the town has stripped the surrounding mountains of their forest, which brings it into war with the animal gods. Drovers carry ore from the workings to the fortress, where the women work the bellows to smelt it and the blacksmiths forge rifles and cannon. At the climax the headless Forest Spirit's body floods and destroys the town; afterwards its people return to rebuild it, and Ashitaka stays to help.
Workings
Ore from the workings on the cleared hills, carried in by drovers; tatara furnaces worked by women at the bellows; forges for firearms in Eboshi's private garden.
Closure
Destroyed by the flood of the Forest Spirit's body at the film's climax, and then rebuilt by its people.
What became of it
In ruins at the end of the film, its people returning to rebuild it.
Canon & adaptations
The film shows the town's smelting and the ore being brought in, but not the mine workings in detail; neither source names a specific mine. The real tatara process smelts ironsand, which the stub named; the sources read say only 'ore' and 'iron'. Irontown is the English dub's rendering of Tataraba.
Recorded claims
Each claim is marked with its basis — explicit canon, MineArchive inference, adaptation only, or fandom interpretation — and attached to the source(s) below. Where tellings disagree, both are kept.
- Irontown has deforested the surrounding area to mine iron, bringing it into conflict with the animal gods of the forest. (explicit canon) 1,2
- Drovers carry ore from the workings to the fortress, where women work the bellows of the furnaces. (explicit canon) 1,2
- Lepers sheltered by Lady Eboshi forge firearms in the town. (explicit canon) 1,2
- Irontown renders the Japanese Tataraba, 'tatara furnace ground'. (explicit canon) 1
- The town is flooded and destroyed at the film's climax, and its people return to rebuild it. (explicit canon) 1,2
- Irontown was based on the Sugaya-Takadono tatara in Shimane Prefecture. (fandom interpretation, uncertain) 1
Sources
- (interpretation) Irontown — Ghibli Wiki — Fandom (community wiki)
- (interpretation) Princess Mononoke — Wikipedia — Wikipedia
Record created: 9 September 2026 · Last researched: 11 October 2026