The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter

"The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter" (Japanese: 竹取物語; "Taketori Monogatari") is 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 extant Japanese narrative, [ [http://www.isp.msu.edu/AsianStudies/wbwoa/eastasia/Japan/literature.html Windows on Asia ] ] ["The Tale of Genji" refers to it as "the ancestor of all romances".(cite book |title=The Tale of Genji |chapter=Chapter 17 A Picture Contest |chapterurl=http://www.globusz.com/ebooks/Genji/00000028.htm )] and an early example of proto-science fiction.citation|title=The Halstead Treasury of Ancient Science Fiction|first=Matthew|last=Richardson|publisher=Halstead Press|publication-place=Rushcutters Bay, New South Wales|year=2001|isbn=1875684646 (cf. citation|title=Once Upon a Time|journal=Emerald City|issue=85|date=September 2002|url=http://www.emcit.com/emcit085.shtml#Once|accessdate=2008-09-17)]

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".

Narrative

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") came across a mysterious, shining stalk of bamboo. After cutting it open, he found inside it a baby the size of his thumb. He rejoiced to find such a beautiful girl and took her home. He and his wife raised her as their own child and named 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 became rich, and Kaguya-hime grew from a small baby into a woman of usual size and extraordinary beauty. At first, Taketori-no-Okina tried to sequester her from outsiders, but over time the news of her beauty had spread.

Eventually, five princes come to Taketori-no-Okina's residence to ask for Kaguya-hime's hand in marriage. The princes eventually persuaded Taketori-no-Okina to tell a reluctant Kaguya-hime to choose one from among them. To this end, Kaguya-hime concocted impossible tasks for the princes to accomplish. She would agree to marry the prince who managed to bring her a specified item.

That night, Taketori-no-Okina told the five princes what each of them must bring. The first was told to bring her the stone begging bowl of the Buddha from India. The second was told to retrieve a jewelled branch from the island of Penglaicite book
last = McCullough
first = Helen Craig
authorlink = Helen Craig McCullough
title = Classical Japanese Prose
publisher = Stanford University Press
date = 1990
pages = 30, 570
language = English
id = ISBN 0-8047-1960-8 ] . The third was 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 was told to find the seashell treasure of the swallows.

Realising that it was an impossible task, the first prince returned with an expensive bowl, but after noticing that the bowl did not glow with holy light, Kaguya-hime saw through his deception. Likewise, two other princes attempted to deceive her with fakes, but also failed. The fourth gave up after encountering a storm, while the final prince lost his life in his attempt to retrieve the object.

After this, the Emperor of Japan, Mikado, came to see the strangely beautiful Kaguya-hime and, upon falling in love, asked her to marry him. Although he was not subjected to the impossible trials that thwarted the princes, Kaguya-hime rejected his request for marriage as well, telling him that she was not of his country and thus could not go to the palace with him. She stayed in contact with the Emperor, but continued to rebuff his requests.

That summer, whenever Kaguya-hime saw the full moon, her eyes fill with tears. Though her adoptive parents worried greatly and questioned her, she was unable to tell them what was wrong. Her behaviour became increasingly erratic until she revealed that she was 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 approached, the Emperor set many guards around her house to protect her from the Moon people, but when an embassy of "Heavenly Beings" arrived at the door of Taketori-no-Okino's house, the many guards were blinded by a strange light. Kaguya-hime announced 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 took Kaguya-hime back to "Tsuki-no-Miyako" ("the Capital of the Moon") against her will, leaving her earthly foster parents 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 Emperor read her letter and was overcome with sadness. He asked his servants, "Which mountain is the closest place to Heaven?", to which one replied that the Great Mountain of Suruga Province is the closest place to Heaven. The Emperor ordered his men to take the letter to the summit of the mountain and burn it, with the hope that his message would reach the distant princess. The men were also commanded to burn the pot of elixir of immortality since the Emperor did not desire to live forever without being able to see her. The legend has it that the word nihongo|"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.)

Literary connections

Konjaku Monogatarishū contains a shorter version of the story, though their relation is under debate.

There have been suggestions that "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter" is related to the tale of "Swan Lake"Fact|date=April 2008. This probably is due to Kaguya-hime wearing the "hagoromo" (羽衣 "feather robe") when she ascends to her homeland. But the hagoromo 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 hagoromo 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.

Banzhu Guniang

In 1957, "Jinyu Fenghuang" (金玉凤凰), a Chinese book of Tibetan tales, was published. [cite book |title=金玉凤凰 |author= 田海燕 (ed.) |publisher=少年儿童出版社 |year=1957 |location=Shanghai |language=Chinese ] In early 1970s, Japanese literary researchers became aware that "Banzhu Guniang" (班竹姑娘), one of the tales in the book, had certain similarities with "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter". [cite journal |author= 百田弥栄子 |title=竹取物語の成立に関する一考察 |journal= アジア・アフリカ語学院紀要 |volume=3 |year=1971 |language=Japanese] [cite book |title=かぐや姫の誕生―古代説話の起源 |author=伊藤清司 |year=1973 |publisher=講談社 |language=Japanese] Initially, many researchers thought that "Banzhu Guniang" must be related to "Tale of Bamboo Cutter", although some were skeptical.

In 1980s, studies showed that the relationship is not as simple as initially thought. Okutsucite book |title=竹取物語の研究 |author=奥津 春雄 |publisher=翰林書房 |year=2000 |language=Japanese |isbn= 4-87737-097-8] provides extensive review of the research, and notes that the book "Jinyu Fenghuang" was intended to be for children, and as such, the editor took some liberties in adapting the tales. No other compilation of Tibetan tales contains the story.

A Tibet-born person wrote that he did not know the story. [cite book |author=テンジン・タシ (ed.) |coauthors=梶濱 亮俊 (trans.) |title=東チベットの民話 |year=2001 |publisher=SKK |language=Japanese] A researcher went to Sichuan and found that, apart from those who had already read "Jinyu Fenghuang", local researchers in Chengdu did not know the story.cite book |title=日中説話の比較研究 |author= 繁原 央 |year=2004 |publisher=汲古書院 |language=Japanese |isbn= 4-7629-3521-2] Tibetan informants in Aba did not know the story either.

In popular culture

As a popular folk tale, it has been a source of many adaptations and plot items.

Movies

*In 1987, "Taketori Monogatari" (international English title: "Princess from the Moon") by Kon Ichikawa was released. It stars Yasuko Sawaguchi, Toshiro Mifune, Ayako Wakao and Megumi Odaka, in her first role. The song "Stay with me" is by Peter Cetera.
*Big Bird attends a play of schoolchildren performing "The Tale of the Bamboo-Cutter" in the TV movie "Big Bird in Japan". The woman who helps Big Bird throughout the movie is named Kaguya-hime, and a connection is implied.

Anime and manga

*"The Tale of the Bamboo-Cutter" is used as a base for the plot in the second InuYasha movie "".
*The full title of the Leiji Matsumoto series and movie "Queen Millennia" is "Shin Taketori Monogatari: Sennen Joō", which translates to "New Tale of the Bamboo-Cutter: 1000-year Queen".
*The manga "Kaguyahime" by Reiko Shimizu is based on the Kaguya-hime story.
*"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 "Sailor Moon" number eleven of the manga the story has the same references to Princess Kaguya. [ [http://donnahime.tripod.com/kaguya.html] ] In "Sailor Moon" the anime series, the five main characters are on a quest to find and protect the Moon princess. The small and beautiful Moon princess had been reincarnated and sent to the Earth in order to be protected from a horrible battle taking place on the Moon. In some episodes of "Sailor Moon" Usagi can be seen crying as she looks at the Moon and remembers her past.
* The anime series "Oh! Edo Rocket", not only is loosely based on the tale of Kaguya-hime, but uses the tale itself within the story. This is done deliberately for comedic value. The anime was adapted from a stage play.
* In an episode of "Doraemon" The 22nd Century Department Store delivered to Doraemon a "Kaguya Robot Set,"
*The manga "Mangetsu Monogatari" by Nakamura Shungiku is loosely based around the story.
*In the anime version of Yakitate!! Japan, they used this story in one of their delicious bread reactions, which had switched to Gundam Mobile Suit for the second half of the reaction.
*"The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter" has inspired several other anime centred around a princess from the Moon, including "Turn A Gundam" and "Yoake Mae yori Ruriiro na".

Games

*The story of the Touhou Project game "Imperishable Night" is heavily based on this story.
*In the PlayStation 2 game "Ōkami", the player must rescue a girl named Kaguya, who is the Old Bamboo Cutter's granddaughter.

Music

*The goa trance/psytrance group Juno Reactor included a track named 'Kaguya Hime' in their album 'Bible of Dreams', released by Blue Room Released in 1997.
*In 2006, Japanese musician Namie Amuro released a video for the song "Ningyo" based on the Kaguya-hime legend.

Others

*The tokusatsu series Gougou Sentai Boukenger has an episode based around this tale (Task 13: The Treasures of Princess Kaguya).
*Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency renamed the SELenological and ENgineering Explorer (SELENE) probe KAGUYA.

Notes

References

*Donald Keene (translator), "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter", ISBN 4-7700-2329-4
*"Japan at a Glance" Updated, ISBN 4-7700-2841-5, pages 164—165 (brief abstract)
*Fumiko Enchi, "Kaguya-hime", ISBN 4-265-03282-6 (in Japanese hiragana)
* [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/japanese/taketori/AnoTake.html "Taketori monogatari", Japanese Text Initiative, Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library]

ee also

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

External links

* [http://www.ryukoku.ac.jp/tenjishitsu/backnumber/no1/t1/13.html a picture book at Ryukoku University exhibition]
* [http://mountfujiguide.com/guide Mount Fuji Guide - travel guide for the mountain which appears in the tale]