Hayao Miyazaki first sketched the idea for Princess Mononoke in 1980, after The Castle of Cagliostro, imagining a princess living in the woods with a beast. It was loosely based on Beauty and the Beast, set in historic Japan. No studio would back it, so he published the concept as a book in 1983 and reused ideas in My Neighbor Totoro and Porco Rosso. Shuna's Journey is the closest in spirit. The final film, released in 1997, kept only a few ideas, with new characters and plot, and drew on Japanese folklore, including a tale of a princess with a birthmark that evolved into Ashitaka's curse.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.