The Bamboo Cutter.

 

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Hey there Earthlings, Alternatives and Trollers. Put down that mouse and lend an ear. Welcome to The Bandersnatch blog where we talk weird, wacky and wondrous. I'm Mama Ogre and I have no idea what I'm doing.

As you should know Tuesdays is book blog day were we talk about one particular book and pretty much run with it. Today's blog is on the Japanese fairytale of The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter.

The story goes that a bamboo cutter going about his work cuts down a bamboo and finds a tiny girl in the hollow of the bamboo. Having a loving heart and no children the cutter takes the child back home to his wife naming her Kaguya-hime and the pair care for her as if she is their own. As Kaguya-hime grows, the bamboo cutter finds money and supplies in the bamboo he cuts, making them rich in the process.

When Kaguya-hime was full grown, rumours of her extreme beauty spread around Japan despite the couples attempts at hiding her, prompting many to seek her hand in marriage, including five nobles, Princes Ishitsukuri and Kuramochi, The minister of the right Abe no Mimuraji and both the grand counsellor Otomo no Miyuki and the middle councillor Isonokami no Marotari. Whilst Kaguya-hime denies many of the advances, the nobles convince the parents to have her choose amongst the five of them.

Uninterested Kaguya-hime devises five impossible tasks: the stone begging bowl of the Buddha, a jewelled branch from the island of Horai, the robe of Chinese fire-rat skins a coloured jewel from a dragons neck and a cowry shell born from a swallow with each one given to a specific noble. Agreeing to marry the noble who completes it. Each noble tries and fails with the bowl being found made from a blackened pot, the branch made by craftsmen is found out when they call for payment, the fur is destroyed by fire, the jewel is never recovered due to storms and the final noble dies when attempting to retrieve the shell from a swallow nest.

Eventually the Emperor hears of Kaguya-hime and arrives at their home asking for her hand in marriage. As usual Kaguya-hime refuses stating she's not of earthly origins but remains in contact with the Emperor through letters for the next three years. That summer every time Kaguya-hime sees the full moon she gets sad and terry unable to tell her adoptive parents what's wrong. In one version of the story Kaguya-hime was sent to earth for protection due to a celestial war another story states she was sent to earth for punishment due to some crime. Eventually Kaguya-hime is summoned back to her home in the moon, the emperor now seeing her as a friend goes with her to the meeting point with guards in case of a set-up. The guards however are blinded and Kaguya-hime announces she must return to her true home on the moon. She writes letters of sadness to both the emperor and her adoptive parents attaching an elixir of immortality to the emperors after drinking some of it. Kaguya-hime leaves after donning a feather cloak which removes her love and sadness for earth ;leaving her foster parents in tears.

The Emperor having found out what's happened reads her letter and is overcome by sadness, he asks which mountain is closest to Heaven?, to which the great Mountain of Suruga Province is suggested. The emperor orders both the letter and elixir be burned on this mountain both as a response to Kaguya-hime and because the Emperor cannot live without her, even with immortality. The Bamboo cutter and his wife eventually become so sick with grief they pass away of grief-sickness.

The story started out as a 10^th century Japanese monogatari or fictional prose containing some from of Japanese Folklore. Its considered one of the oldest Japanese prose narrative with the oldest complete manuscript dated to 1592. The story's elements, however can be found in earlier stories such as the main protagonist Taketori no Okina who appears in an earlier poetry collection called Man'yoshu. This story element in particular indicates an even earlier existence either as an image or tale about a bamboo cutter and a celestial/mysterious woman. Some legend elements has the word Immortality become the name of a mountain, became Mount Fuji and the Kanji for mountain (Mountain abound with warriors) are derived from the emperors army carrying out his orders. It was also said that smoke from the burning letter still rises to this day. Mount Fuji was once a more active volcano and therefore produced more smoke however as of writing this blog Mount Fuji is rather dormant.

Thanks to the popularity of this fairytale it has been adapted, worked and reworked and updated into various other stories and media. With the 1987 Japanese film of Princess from the moon and the 2014 anime film called the tale of the princess Kaguya remaining faithful to the legend. Adaptions of the story are included in both the 1994 anime TV series and subsequent Movie of Sailor Moon. The 1999 Shonen manga and anime franchise Naturo and the 2006 Capcom video game Okami.

I dont exactly remember when I got a copy of this story but my interest in Japanese fairy tales started with a book of Japanese fairy tales I'd found at a charity shop. This story was one of those included and became one of my favourites. I highly recommend those with families to look not only into Japanese fairy tales but those of other countries as well. Sometimes interpretations of our own can be found there as well as new ones. I give this story a 9/10.

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WEBSITE BIBLIOGRAPHY:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_the_Bamboo_Cutter

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And there you have it a decent book for those who love to read So we'll be leaving this here for today please leave a comment, share with others if you want or not, Don't forget We HAVE PATREON! please consider becoming a Patreon today, the link is in the bibliography above. Friday is random blog day and remember keep it sensible in the comments all abuse will be tracked and reported to the appropriate people.