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The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter

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The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter (Japanese: 竹取物語; Taketori Monogatari) is a 10th century Japanese folk tale about a mysterious girl, Princess Kaguya. It is also known as The Tale of Princess Kaguya (かぐや姫の物語, Kaguya-hime no Monogatari). It is considered the oldest Japanese narrative. [1]

Kaguya, the mouse born by quasi-parthenogenesis, and the asteroid 7991 Kaguyahime are among the many things named after the Princess Kaguya in the tale.

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Narrative

The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter primarily details the life of the mysterious Kaguya-hime, princess of the Young Bamboo. The main characters in this legend are Taketori-no Okina (竹取翁, the Old Man who Harvests Bamboo), Kaguya-hime (かぐや姫, Princess Kaguya, "radiant night princess"), five princes, and the reigning Emperor of Japan (Tennō). Kaguya-hime is a mysterious girl, discovered inside the stalk of a great bamboo plant by Taketori-no Okina when she was a tiny baby, who is said to be from Tsuki-no Miyako (月都, "The Capital of the Moon") and who has unusual hair that "shines like gold".

One day while walking in the bamboo forest, the old, childless bamboo cutter comes across a mysterious, shining stalk of bamboo. Cutting it open, inside he finds a baby, the size of his thumb. Rejoicing to find such a beautiful girl, he takes her home and he and his wife raise her as their own child, naming her Kaguya-hime. Thereafter, the Old Bamboo Harvester found that whenever he cut down a stalk of bamboo, inside he found a small nugget of gold. Soon, he was rich, and Kaguya-hime grew from a small baby into a woman of usual size and unusual beauty. At first, Taketori-no Okina tries to sequester her from outsiders, but over time, the news of her beauty spreads.

Five princes come to Taketori-no Okina's residence, where Kaguya-hime has resided ever since she was found, to ask for her hand in marriage. She is reluctant to marry, so she concocts impossible tasks for the princes to accomplish before they can win her. The various princes set out on these near impossible quests. The first is told to bring her the holy basin of the Buddha. He returns with an expensive bowl, but noticing that the bowl does not glow with holy light, Kaguya-hime sees through his deception. The other princes likewise attempt to deceive her in order to fulfill her impossible demands. The second is told to retrieve a legendary azalea made of silver and gold. The third is told to seek the legendary robe of the fire-rat of China. The fourth must retrieve a colored jewel from a dragon. The final prince is told to find the seashell treasure of the swallows, but also fails.

After this, the emperor, called Tennō in Japanese, comes to see the strangely beautiful Kaguya-hime and upon falling in love asks her to marry him. Although he is not subjected to the impossible trials that thwarted the princes, Kaguya-hime rejects his requests for marriage as well, telling him that she was not of this country and thus could not go to the palace with him. She stays in contact with Tennō but continues to rebuff his requests.

That summer whenever Kaguya-hime would see the full moon her eyes filled with tears, for she knew that on such a night, she would be forced to leave this home forever. Though her adopted parents worry greatly and question her, she is unable to tell them what was wrong. Her behavior becomes increasingly erratic until it is revealed that the princess is not of this world and must return to her people on the moon. In some versions of this tale, it is said that she was sent to the earth as a temporary punishment for some crime, while others say it is because she was sent to earth for safety during a celestial war.

As the day for her to return approaches, Tennō sets many guards around her house to protect her from the moon people, but when an embassy of "Heavenly Beings" arrives at the door of the Bamboo Harvester's house, the many guards are blinded by the strange light. Kaguya-hime announces that though she loves her many friends on earth, she must return with the moon people to her true home. She wrote sad notes of apology to her parents and to the Emperor, then gave her parents her own robe as a memento. She then took a small taste of the elixir of life, attached it to her letter to the Emperor, and gave it to a guard officer. As she handed it to him, the feather robe was placed on her shoulders, and all of her sadness and compassion for the people of the Earth were forgotten. The heavenly entourage takes Kaguya-hime back to Tsuki-no Miyako against her will, leaving her earthly foster parents and the still-pining emperor in tears.

The parents became very sad and were soon put to bed sick. The guard officer returned to the Emperor with the items Kaguya-hime had given him as her last mortal act, and reported what had happened. The forlorn Tennō dispatches a person to the great mountain of Suruga, the tallest mountain in Japan, that is, the closest place on earth to the heaven (Suruga is the ancient name of a region that is now part of Shizuoka Prefecture; it is the region where Mount Fuji is located). The mission provided by the Tennō is to burn a letter from the Tennō to Kaguya-hime on the summit, with the hope that his message would reach the now distant princess. In some versions, the men are commanded to burn the pot of elixir of immortality since the Tennō did not desire to live forever without being able to see her. The word immortality (不死, fushi, or fuji) became the name of the great mountain. Also, it is written that the image of the innumerable soldiers of the Tennō's army ascending the slopes of the mountain became the name, Mt. "Fuji" (富士山, literally "Mountain Abounding with Warriors"). It is said that the smoke from the burning still rises to this day.

Literary connections

The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter is nearly identical in form to a Tibetan tale of a similar name, and some researchers believe that the Japanese legend may have been drawn from the Tibetan one, perhaps through ancient contacts with China. The part of the legend that relates to the name of Mt. Fuji is unique to the Japanese version. However, this Tibetan tale appears only in a collection of Tibetan stories published in 1950s and similar stories are nonexistent in regions between Japan and Tibet. Thus, some researchers believe that Japanese explorers venturing into Tibet introduced the Japanese tale where it became a classic.

There have also been suggestions that it is related to the tale of Swan Lake. This probably is due to Princess Kaguya-hime wearing the hagoromo 羽衣 "feather robe" when she ascends to her homeland. But the feather robe figures more famously in a group of tales known as the hagoromo densetsu (in one example recorded in the Ohmi-no-kuni Fudo ki tells of a man who instructs his dog to steal the feather garments of eight heavenly maidens while they were bathing, forcing one of them to become his bride). And the latter is remarkably similar to the tale of how Völundr the Smith and his brothers wedded the swan-maidens.

Movies

Anime and manga

  • The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter is used as a base for the plot in the second InuYasha Movie "The Castle Beyond the Looking Glass". However in the movie it is said that the film's Kaguya-hime is not a celestial being but a demon that has likely devoured the true Kaguya and so has gained her power. She was later sealed by a spell to the moon for destroying men. The only way to free her was to collect the five items that was told in the story. The items each represent wood (the Jeweled Sprig), earth (the Stone Bowl of the Buddha), fire (Cloth of the Fire Rat), metal (Crystal from the Dragon's neck), and water (Swallow's Cowrie Shell). The five elements, collectively represented as the pentagram, make recurring appearances.
  • The full title of the Leiji Matsumoto series and movie "Queen Millenia" is "Shin Taketori Monogatari: 1000 (Sen) nen Jo ou", which translates to "New Tale of the Bamboo Cutter: 1000-year Queen"
  • Planet Ladder by Yuri Narushima has a similar story centered around a girl named Kaguya who discovers that she is a long-lost princess destined to save one of nine worlds.
  • In the Sailor Moon S movie Hearts in Ice, a scientist and astronomer named Kakeru, who comes into contact with Luna, tells Luna that he has had dreams about a Princess Kaguya existing on the Moon since he was a child. As the senshi battle the main evil forces of the movie, a very weak Kakeru - who actually possesses the crystal that the villain left on Earth in order to cast the planet into an icy sleep - goes out with thoughts of the princess, and his girlfriend Himeko, but collapses in the snow, and Luna finds him. Having fallen in love with him, Luna had told Usagi that she wanted to transform into a human and pretend to be Princess Kaguya so Kakeru could confirm his belief that a Moon princess existed. As Usagi saves the world with the power of the Silver Crystal, she also uses her powers to allow Luna to become a human for one night in order to do this. Luna transforms, tells Kakeru that she is the princess, and takes him into space, showing him the moon. He then sees that she is actually Luna, though. Meanwhile Himeko, who works as an astronaut, who is currently in space, sees them whirl by and realizes that there must be a Princess Kaguya, having once been completely skeptical (which almost destroyed her and Kakeru's relationship). Upon returning to Earth, Himeko tells reporters that while in space, she saw Princess Kaguya on the Moon.[2]

In Sailor Moon number eleven of the manga the story has the same references to Princess Kaguya.[3]

  • In an episode of Yakitate!! Japan, the story was referenced and Tsukino was depicted as the real Kaguya and Yukino as a fake Kaguya. However, it was also mixed in with a Gundam reference.
  • In the second season of the anime series Yaiba, Princess Kaguya invades the Earth along with an army of moon rabbits. Though, in this version, Kaguya is more of a gaki, or 'Hungry Ghost' - She hungers for the youth of young beautiful women, draining them into crones. All of her minions are actually anthropomorphic rabbits, while she herself dresses like a Playboy Bunny, complete with fake rabbit ears and tail.
  • In episode 8 of the anime Pita-Ten, the characters put on a play of Princess Kaguya's story.

Games

File:Th08kaguya01.png
Kaguya as the final boss of Imperishable Night.
  • In the Sega CD and PlayStation game Lunar 2: Eternal Blue, there is a very similar story involving one of the main characters, Lucia, but with Earth and the Moon switched. Lucia comes to the "Silver Star" (the world of Lunar, which is the moon) while her home is experiencing a great ice storm. The main character finds her in a great blue spire, which is the "tallest tower in the world", akin to both Mt. Fuji in size, and a bamboo stalk in shape. At the end of the game, Lucia returns to Earth (called the "Blue Star" in the game), leaving the main protagonist heartbroken, akin to the Emperor in the original tale.
  • In Wild Arms 3, the guardian called Celesdue is based after Kaguya who is complete with a moon themed attack.
  • The Nintendo game Shin Oni Ga Shima is a combined telling of Princess Kaguya (called Hikari) and Momotarou (called Donbe). Along with Matsunosuke the monkey, Ohana the pheasant, and Ringo the dog the pair travels to the Oni Island and fights for the lives of their village.
  • OF-5 Kaguya from R-Type Final is named after Princess Kaguya. The OF-5's description in the game itself suggests that it was named for her because the shots of the Green Pod (which only the OF-5 can use) look like bamboo. It stresses, however, that this is merely speculation.
  • In the PlayStation 2 game Ōkami, the player must rescue a girl named Kaguya, who is the Old Bamboo Cutter's granddaughter. After rescuing her, she returns to the spaceship (referred in the game as a huge metal bamboo stalk) the Old Bamboo Cutter found her in and flies away.

Music

  • In 2006, Japanese musician Namie Amuro released a video for the song "Ningyo" based on the Kaguya-hime legend.

Others

  • The 1999 and 2004-05 Seramyu (Sailor Moon musicals) contain references to the Kaguya-hime legend.
  • The webcomic "Get Medieval" has as a subplot a story bearing some similarities to the Kaguya-hime folktale, wherein a young alien seismologist crash-lands in medieval Japan, and the residents of the nearby village conclude that she must be Kaguya-hime.

References

See also

  • Thumbelina - another folktale involving a tiny girl found in vegetation
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