 The
Tale of the Bamboo Cutter (Japanese: 竹取物語, たけとりものがたり, Taketori
Monogatari) - A a 10th century Japanese folktale,
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.
It primarily details the life of a mysterious girl called
Kaguya-hime who was discovered, as a baby, inside the stalk
of a glowing bamboo plant. She is said to be from
Tsuki-no-Miyako (月の都 "The Capital of the Moon") and has
unusual hair that "shines like gold".
One day, while walking in the bamboo forest, an old,
childless bamboo cutter called Taketori-no-Okina (竹取翁 "the
Old Man who Harvests Bamboo") comes across a mysterious,
shining stalk of bamboo. Cutting it open, he finds inside it
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 (かぐや姫
"radiant-night princess). Thereafter, Taketori-no-Okina
found that whenever he cut down a stalk of bamboo, inside he
found a small nugget of gold. Soon he is rich, and
Kaguya-hime grew from a small baby into a woman of usual
size and extraordinary beauty. At first, Taketori-no-Okina
tries to sequester her from outsiders, but over time the
news of her beauty spreads.
Eventually, five princes come to Taketori-no-Okina's
residence to ask for Kaguya-hime's hand in marriage. The
princes eventually persuade Taketori-no-Okina to tell a
reluctant Kaguya-hime to choose one from among them. To this
end, Kaguya-hime concocts impossible tasks for the princes
to accomplish. She will agree to marry the prince who
manages to bring her a specified item.
That night, Taketori-no-Okina tells the five princes what
each of them must bring. The first is told to bring her the
stone begging bowl of the Buddha. The second is told to
retrieve a jeweled branch from the island of Hourai. 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's neck. The final prince is told to find the seashell
treasure of the swallows.
Realizing that it was an impossible task, the first prince
returns with an expensive bowl, but noticing that the bowl
does not glow with holy light, Kaguya-hime sees through his
deception. Two other princes likewise attempt to deceive her
with fakes but also fail. The fourth gives up after
encountering a storm, while the final prince loses his life
in his attempt to retrieve the object.
After this, the Emperor of Japan, Mikado, 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 request for marriage as well, telling him that
she is not of this country and thus cannot go to the palace
with him. She stays in contact with the Emperor, but
continues to rebuff his requests.
That summer, whenever Kaguya-hime sees the full moon, her
eyes fill with tears. Though her adoptive parents worry
greatly and question her, she is unable to tell them what is
wrong. Her behavior becomes increasingly erratic until she
reveals that she 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 of her return approaches, the Emperor 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 Taketori-no-Okino's house, the many guards are blinded by
a 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 writes sad notes of apology to
her parents and to the Emperor, then gives her parents her
own robe as a memento. She then takes a small taste of the
elixir of life, attaches it to her letter to the Emperor,
and gives it to a guard officer. As she hands it to him, the
feather robe is placed on her shoulders, and all of her
sadness and compassion for the people of the Earth are
forgotten. The heavenly entourage takes Kaguya-hime back to
Tsuki-no-Miyako ("the Capital of the Moon") against her
will, leaving her earthly foster parents in tears.
The parents become very sad and are soon put to bed sick.
The guard officer returns to the Emperor with the items
Kaguya-hime had given him as her last mortal act, and
reports what had happened. The Emperor reads her letter and
is overcome with sadness. He asks his servants, "Which
mountain is the closest place to Heaven?", to which one
replies that the Great Mountain of Suruga Province is the
closest place to Heaven. The Emperor orders his men to take
the letter to the summit of the mountain and burn it, with
the hope that his message would reach the now-distant
princess. The men are also commanded to burn the pot of
elixir of immortality since the Emperor does not desire to
live forever without being able to see her. The legend has
it that the word immortality (不死, fushi, or fuji) became the
name of the mountain, Mount Fuji. It is also said that the
kanji for the mountain, 富士山 (literally "Mountain Abounding
with Warriors"), is derived from the Emperor's army
ascending the slopes of the mountain to carry out his order.
It is said that the smoke from the burning still rises to
this day. (In the past, Mount Fuji was much more
volcanically active than today.)
Information source: “The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter.”
wikipedia.org. Article date: 5 Feb. 2008. Retrieved:
Wikipedia. 12 Feb. 2008 <The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter>.
Video - The following is a house commercial
in Japan using characters from The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter
story. |
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