Since her first film, Mothra has been depicted in various stages of the lepidopteran life cycle:
Mothra’s mammoth egg is decoratively colored in blue and yellow waves. The egg hatches into her
larva, a massive brown, segmented caterpillar (resembling a silkworm) with glowing blue—red when
angry—eyes. In rare circumstances, twins may emerge from the egg. The caterpillar eventually spins
a silken cocoon around itself (the pupa stage), and from this cocoon the imago (adult) Mothra
emerges, a gigantic moth-like creature with brightly-colored wings. Mothra’s life cycle—particularly
the tendency of an imago’s death to coincide with its larvae hatching—echoes that of the Phoenix,
resembling resurrection and suggesting divinity. Despite having wrought destruction worthy of any
Toho daikaiju, she is almost always portrayed as a kind and benevolent creature, causing destruction
only when acting as protector to her worshipers on Infant Island or to her egg, or as collateral damage
while protecting Earth from a greater threat. She has also fertilized her own eggs.

Mothra has proven a formidable adversary in combat: in larval form she may use her silken spray to
wrap and immobilize an opponent, and has a knack for biting and clinging to foes’ tails. In imago form
her powers vary widely from film to film, including very animalistic scratching and dragging,
incorporating several bolt and beam weapons in the Heisei era, and often concluding with a
poisonous yellow powder (or “scales”) —her last defense.

Mosura / Mothra (1961)
AKA: Daikaiju Masura (1961), Mothra
(1962)Mosura / Mothra (1961)
Toho

Directed By: Ishiro Honda
Produced By: Tomoyuki Tanaka
Special Effects: Eiji Tsuburaya
Written By: Takehiro Fukunaga and Yoshie Hotta
Music: Yuji Koseki

Cast:
Frankie Sakai as Senchiro Fukuda
Hiroshi Koizumi as Dr. Shin’ichi Chujo
Kyoko Kagawa as Michi Hanamura
Ken Uehara as Dr. Haradawa
Emi Ito as Shobijin (Twin Fairy / Peanuts)
Yumi Ito as Shobijin (Twin Fairy / Peanuts)
Jerry Ito as Clark Nelson

Runtime: 101 Minutes Japan, 88 Minutes USA
Sound: Mono
Released: July 30, 1961