The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, also known as Taketori Monogatari, is a Japanese folktale that references Mount Fuji. This tale from around 1592 is also known as “The Tale of Princess Kaguya”.
One day, in a bamboo forest, there was an old bamboo cutter named Taketori no Okina. That day, he came across a mysterious and shining bamboo stalk. After opening it, he miraculously found a child the size of his thumb. He was overjoyed 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. After that, Taketori no Okina made a great discovery. Whenever he cut a bamboo stalk, inside it would have a small nugget of gold. And as expected, he soon became rich.
Kaguya-hime grew from a small baby to a woman of ordinary size and extraordinary beauty. At first, Taketori no Okina tried to keep her away from outsiders. However, over time the news of her beauty spread.
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Taketori Monogatari – the truth about Kaguya-hime
Eventually, five princes came to the residence of Taketori no Okina to ask for Kaguya-hime’s hand in marriage. The princes ended up persuading Taketori no Okina to tell the reluctant Kaguya-hime to choose one of them.
Kaguya-hime invented impossible tasks for the princes, agreeing to marry the one who could bring her specified item. However, none of the princes managed to get the item, and no one won Kaguya-hime’s hand.
After the incident with the princes, the Emperor of Japan, Mikado, came to see the beautiful Kaguya-hime. And like the others, falling in love, he asked her to marry him. But Kaguya-hime also rejected his marriage proposal.
That summer, whenever Kaguya-hime saw the full moon, her eyes filled with tears. Although her adoptive parents were very worried and questioned her, she could not tell them what was wrong. Her behavior became increasingly erratic.
Finally, she revealed that she was not of this world and had to return to her people on the moon.
Taketori Monogatari – Kaguya-hime returns to the moon
As the day of her return approached, the emperor sent many guards. They were to guard and protect Kaguya-hime’s house from the people of the moon. However, when an embassy of “celestial beings” arrived at the door of Taketori no Okina’s house, the guards were blinded.
Kaguya-hime announced that, although she loves many friends on Earth, she must return with the people of the Moon. She wrote sad notes of apology to her parents and the emperor. Then she gave her parents her own cloak as a memento.
She then took some of the elixir of life, attached it to her letter to the emperor, and gave it to a guard officer. When she handed it to him, her feather cloak was placed on her shoulders. Thus, all of Kaguya-hime’s sadness and compassion for the people of Earth were seemingly forgotten.
The celestial entourage took Kaguya-hime back to Tsuki no Miyako (“the Capital of the Moon”). Thus, leaving her earthly adoptive parents in tears.
The parents were very sad and soon went to bed ill. The officer returned to the Emperor with the items Kaguya-hime had given him. Additionally, he 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 they answered the Great Mountain of Suruga Province. The emperor ordered his men to take the letter to the summit of the mountain and burn it there. All in the hope that her message would reach the distant princess.
The men were also ordered to burn the elixir of immortality. After all, the emperor did not want to live forever without being able to see her.
The anime and Manga 1 is quite reminiscent of the story of Kaguya and the Bamboo Cutter. In the story, lunar entities want to capture the precious stones. Both stories have a relation to Buddhism.
The story is very vast
The legend says that the word immortality, 不死 ( fushi), became the name of the mountain, Mount Fuji. It is also said that the kanji for the mountain, 富士山 (literally “Mountain Abundant with Warriors”), is derived from the emperor’s army ascending the slopes of the mountain to execute his order.
It is said that the smoke from the fire still rises to this day, which is somewhat true. In the past, Mount Fuji was much more volcanically active and therefore produced more smoke.
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If you want to see the complete and detailed story of Taketori Monogatari and the tale of Kaguya Hime, we recommend the books below:
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