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 Legend of Princess Kaguya (かぐや姫の物語, Kaguya-hime no Monogatari). It is also translated as The Legend of the Bamboo Harvester.
Narrative
The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter primarily details the exploits of five princes to win the hand 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), 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 babe, 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 normal 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 fire-mouse 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, Tennō, 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. 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. 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 forlorn Tennō dispatches an army of soldiers to the tallest mountain in Japan, the great mountain of Suruga (Suruga is the ancient name of a region that is now part of Shizuoka Prefecture; it is the region where Mt. Fuji is located). The mission provided by the Tennō to the army is to climb to the summit of the great mountain and to burn a letter from the Tennō to Kaguya-hime there, with the hope that his message would reach the now distant princess. The image of the innumerable soldiers of the Tennō's army ascending the slopes of Mt. Fuji is said in Japanese folk etymology to have been immortalized by naming the great mountain "Fuji-san" (富士山, "Mountain Abounding with Warriors").
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. Of course, the part of the legend that relates to the name of Mt. Fuji is unique to the Japanese version.
There have also been suggestions that it is related to the tale of Swan Lake.
Resources
Donald Keene (translator), The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, ISBN 4770023294
Japan at a Glance Updated, ISBN 4770028415, pages 164—165 (brief abstract)
Fumiko Enchi, "Kaguya-hime", ISBN 4265032826 (in Japanese hiragana)