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After that, the old couple Okina and Ouna cried every day, almost to the point of drowning in endless tears, but there was nothing that could be done.
The person who looked after these poor old people read the letter that Princess Kaguya had left behind to them, but their sadness only increased.
The two of them cried and said, "I don't know what I should live for from now on. Now that Princess Kaguya is gone, there is no point in living. It would be better to die."
They didn't take the medicine that Princess Kaguya had left for them. They didn't eat enough, and gradually Okina and Ouna became weaker and weaker, until they were unable to get out of bed.
The lieutenant general, Takano Okuni, returned to the palace with 2,000 soldiers and reported to the emperor in detail how he was unable to fight the messengers from the moon and how Princess Kaguya had been kidnapped.
The lieutenant general then presented the emperor with a jar of the elixir of immortality, along with a letter from Princess Kaguya.
After reading the letter, the emperor was overcome with emotion and did not even enjoy his usual entertainment of music and dancing. Perhaps because he had no appetite, he did not even try to eat a satisfying meal.
A few days later, the emperor asked his close ministers and secretaries, "Which is the highest mountain in our country?"
One of them answered, "I believe the mountain in Suruga Province (present-day Shizuoka Prefecture) is the mountain closest to the heavens."
Hearing this, the emperor composed a poem.
The poem went like this: "I will never be able to see my beloved Princess Kaguya again, and I am drowning in tears, so of what use would an elixir of immortality be to me?"
The emperor ordered an Imperial messenger named Tsuki-no-Iwagaki to take a jar of the elixir of immortality and a letter and climb the highest mountain in Japan in Suruga Province. The emperor then asked him to arrange the elixir and the letter when he reached the top of the mountain, set them on fire and burn them.
Accompanied by many strong soldiers, the Imperial messenger Tsuki-no-Iwagaki climbed the highest mountain in Japan in Suruga Province and burned the elixir of immortality and the letter as ordered by the emperor.
Since then, the mountain has been called Mount Fuji (the sound of Fuji is the same as the Japanese word for immortality), which is why it is said that smoke rises from the top. (Mount Fuji erupted many times during the Heian period when this story was written.)