Ashitaka is an Emishi prince and that is important
Many people have touched on the facts about Emishi history in the context of Princess Mononoke. But so far, few have addressed the question of "why" to a satisfactory manner. Of course, it may have simply been to position a character as "neutral" in a story so full of opposite sides and festering hatred.
Personally, I think there is more to be said about the significance of Ashitaka's ethnicity.
As is mentioned in the movie itself, the shared history between the Emishi and the Yamato people was not one of peace, fraternity and prosperity. It was one of bloodshed, suppression, war, annihilation. The Emishi people were branded as "barbarians" and driven off the land they had lived on for centuries. The full title of Shogun - Seii Taishogun - was coined initially to denote the commander who lead the army against the Emishi people.
So to me, Ashitaka's ethnicity does not make him a "neutral party" in the conflict. He is a neutral party because he chooses to be. However, it's not difficult to imagine what he must be thinking to travel across Japan and see warring states tearing each other apart from within the same country, the same people, the same clan even. First, they drive his people to extinction. Then, they turn against each other. And now, they want to fight nature? Where in hell does the hatred stop?
Second, and perhaps more poignant. It is an allegory for the effects of environmental disasters on small, usually poor and/or indigenous communities. Ashitaka's curse was passed onto him from a boar who turned monstrous after having been shot by Lady Eboshi with her fancy gun. Clearly, he and his people played no part in that violence, but they are the ones who faced the consequences of environmentally destructive militarism and industrialism.
If the curse is read as an illness it can symbolize zoonotic diseases. In the 1990s, a sharp decline in vulture population in India lead to one of the worst rabies epidemics in recent history, killing tens of thousands of people per year. Ongoing deforestation destroys the habitats of many species, resulting in exposure to terrifying diseases we do not yet know about. And the first people to be affected are the communities who live around such areas.
In more general ways, it symbolizes the impact of environmental disasters as a whole. The Fukushima nuclear leak destroyed the lives and livelihood of countless residents of Tohoku - one of the poorest areas in Japan, and the last homes of the Emishi people. Even to this day, many of them remain displaced, living in temporary shelters. Meanwhile, the electric company responsible for the power plant's faulty design got off with a meagre fine, and its top executives were acquitted of charges. Reason being: they provide electricity to the Kanto region. Modernity, convenience and comfort at the cost of people's lives.
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