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Taketori Monogatari: The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter
The original "TAKETORI MONOGATARI :The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter" is said to be the oldest piece of literature in Japan.
It is said that "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter" was written about 1000 years ago, when the capital was in Kyoto, known as the Heian period. The original author is unknown.
Because there was no printing technology at the time, this story was also copied and passed from person to person.
Therefore, it is not possible to know whether the work introduced here is completely original. Each time it was copied, someone may have added new embellishments.
This story is basically a surreal story, a fantasy about a woman from another world, but it also includes criticism of Buddhist morality and the aristocratic society of the time.
To translate this story, I first translated the original text into modern Japanese. I translated the modern Japanese story word for word into English using Google Translate.
One of the characteristics of Japanese is that the subject is often omitted. For Japanese people, the subject can be understood from the context, so if the subject appears frequently, it can be annoying.
For example, in "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter," even pronouns such as "she" and "he" are often omitted in both the original text and the modern translation, and the meaning is difficult to convey when translated into English, so I added information that is not in the original text.
The story centers around a poor old couple who make a living by harvesting bamboo, but another important protagonist is Princess Kaguya.
Many picture books have been published that have been rewritten for children with an emphasis on Princess Kaguya.
Recently, Studio Ghibli produced an animated film called "The Tale of Princess Kaguya."
Although it is a story from 1000 years ago, it is still loved by many Japanese people, and even people overseas.
When translating this story, there were some parts where it was very difficult to convey the nuances of the Japanese.
Each character's name has a meaning and is often filled with the author's sarcastic or joking intent, but since it is impossible to translate these directly into English, they have been simply written as names.
Also, the nobles who propose to Princess Kaguya have their court titles preceded in their names, but these are official ranks from 1,000 years ago and would be difficult to translate into modern-day English.
In the aristocratic society of the time, there was a culture of writing down one's thoughts in short poems called "uta" and sending them in letters, rather than meeting in person.
By writing these "uta," the unique Japanese writing system known as "hiragana" was created from kanji characters that were transmitted to Japan from China, and over time it was refined and perfected.
Most of the "uta" that appear in this story have double meanings, either moral lessons or jokes, but this is also a nuance that can only be conveyed in Japanese, which has many homonyms, so translating it was difficult.
Unfortunately, I decided to leave this part out and translate only the contents of the characters' letters.
If there are Japanese language learners who are interested in this part, I would recommend reading the original work in Japanese, even though it is quite advanced.
In modern Japan, songs are still called tanka or waka and are loved by many Japanese people.
Every January, the Imperial Palace holds a poetry gathering.
This is an event where poems selected from those submitted from all over Japan are read aloud by the composers in front of the Emperor and Empress.
There are no qualifications to apply, so anyone who can write a poem in Japanese can apply.
Every year, people of all ages, from children whose songs are selected to the elderly, participate in this event.
I wrote that exchanging a poem was an aristocratic culture, but the Manyoushu, Japan's oldest poetry collection, contains songs from a variety of people, from the emperor to the soldiers guarding the border.
I would recommend the Manyoshu to anyone interested in the Japanese language and literature.
Author: Sabashi Ryo
It's an old story now, but there was a man named Taketori-no-Okina.
His real name was Sanuki-no-Miyatsukomaro, but he would go into the bamboo grove every day, cut bamboo, bring it home, and make baskets out of it, so the villagers called him Taketori-no-Okina.
Taketori-no-Okina means "old man who cuts bamboo" in old Japanese.
Okina means an old man.
One day, when Okina went to his usual bamboo grove, a dazzling light was coming out of one of the bamboo stalks, illuminating the whole area.
Okina was curious and decided to cut the bamboo.
Okina was surprised.
The reason was that inside the bamboo tube from which the light was coming out was a beautiful girl about 3cm in size.
Since the girl was inside the bamboo in the bamboo grove where she went to collect bamboo every day, Okina thought that God must have blessed her with a child.
Okina had never had a child. For a long time, she had wanted a child, but had given up as she had become an old person.
Okina was delighted and took the girl home with her.
When Okina got home, she showed the girl to her wife Ouna and explained what had happened. Ouna is an old Japanese word that means "old woman."
Both Ouna and Okina cried tears of joy and thanked God for their good fortune.
As the girl inside the bamboo was very small, Ouna placed her in a bamboo basket lined with a cotton and silk futon and raised her there with care.
After they began raising the girl, Okina and Ouna began to experience many strange things.
When Okina went to collect bamboo for her usual work, she would often find gold inside the bamboo.
"This gold must be something that God has given to us so that we can raise this child with care," thought Okina.
The girl was raised with care, so she grew quickly and, amazingly, after three months she was the same height as an ordinary girl.
Every time Okina went out to collect bamboo she would come back with gold, so she became the richest person in the village.
Okina and Ouna's little girl grew into a beautiful young lady, so they styled her hair like an adult's and dressed her in beautiful silk kimonos that were not inferior to those of the ladies of the court.
Their daughter grew into a woman who was perhaps the most beautiful in the world. And not only did she have a beautiful face, but whenever she was there, the house lit up with light from every corner, and they felt as if they were in heaven.
No matter how tired or sick Okina and Ouna were, just looking at their daughter would make them feel better and more energetic.
Because he would return with gold every day he went out to collect bamboo, Taketori-no-Okina became extremely rich, known not only in the village but throughout the country.
He lived in a large house like a palace, with many servants, and was the envy of the people.
Okina and Ouna had raised their daughter with care, without letting her leave their home, so they had only called her "my dear daughter" and forgotten to give her a name.
Okina thought it was strange that her daughter still didn't have a name, even though she had grown so much and was old enough to meet a wonderful man and get married, so they invited a fortune teller named Akita, who was famous throughout the country, to come and give her a name.
Akita gave her the name "Nayotake-no-Kaguya-hime."
This means "A shining princess who appeared from a beautiful bamboo."
Okina and Ouna wanted people to know about Princess Kaguya, whom they had raised with care and without showing to anyone or letting her leave their home.
They also thought that by letting young men know about her, they might be able to find a suitable husband for her.
(From now on, this will be referred to as "Princess Kaguya.")
Okina had her servants prepare a huge feast, and invited everyone in the village, men, women, old people and children, to a three-day grand banquet to show off Princess Kaguya.
When the villagers saw Princess Kaguya, they were amazed by her beauty and nobility, and spread the word by word of mouth, and in the blink of an eye, Princess Kaguya became known to the public.
Men who heard the rumors about Princess Kaguya wanted to make such a beautiful woman their wife, and wanted to at least catch a glimpse of her.
This story is from 1000 years ago, and even though Japan is a technologically advanced country, it was a time when cameras did not exist.
Therefore, there were no paparazzi yet, but many men who heard the rumors gathered around Princess Kaguya's mansion.
The area around the mansion was like a festival, night and day, with single men who wanted to marry the beautiful Princess Kaguya and men who wanted to see the most beautiful Princess Kaguya in the world, even if only for a moment.
Wanting to meet Prince Kaguya somehow, the men called out to the servants in the mansion, but no one would pay them any attention, so eventually they all went back home.
Among them, there were five men who refused to give up and stayed near the house.
All of them were men of high rank who served in the imperial court.
One was Ishitsukuri-no-Miko. The other was Kuramochi-no- Miko. "Miko" is an old Japanese word that means "son of a person of high status," something like prince.
The other three were the Minister of the Right Abe-no- Miushi, Dainagon(Assistant to the Minister of the Right) Otomono-Miyuki, and Chuunagon(Dainagon's Assistant) Issonokami-no-Marotari, all men of high status.
All of these men wanted to somehow meet Princess Kaguya and propose to her, but none of them could even meet her.
These five noble men came to Okina every day, in the rain, the cold snow, and the scorching summer sun, and begged her to let them marry her daughter.
Every time, Okina refused their advances, saying, "My daughter is not the child of my wife. As you may know, she has a strange background and will not do as we want her to."
Eventually, Okina began to feel sorry for them, and one day she spoke to Princess Kaguya, "Princess, I know you are no ordinary person, but if you still consider us your parents, having raised you until now, would you not grant me a wish?"
"I am already over 70 years old. I am at an age where I could die at any time. While I am still healthy, I want you to marry a fine man so that I will have no regrets. So many high-ranking men are eagerly hoping that you will marry them, so could you at least meet them and choose from them someone who suits your heart?"
When Okina said this, Princess Kaguya looked a little dissatisfied and thought for a while, but then she made up her mind and said, "I know how devoted the five men are, but I still don't know if they truly love me. No matter how noble a man is, I don't want to marry him if I don't know how deep his love is."
"I see, and I think so too, but then how much love are you looking for? It seems to me that they love you very much," Okina said.
"I understand that these men very much wish to marry me. But whether they truly love me or not is another matter, and we cannot marry until we are sure of that," Princess Kaguya said firmly with a serious expression.
Okina nodded and said, "So how can I be sure of the depth of their love?"
"Tell the five men that I will marry the one who brings me exactly what I desire," the princess said.
"I understand. That's very well," Okina said, and told them.
Okina told the five noblemen about Princess Kaguya's requirements for marriage.
They were all delighted that the wait was worth it.
And each of them said, "I am the one who is worthy to be Princess Kaguya 's husband," and "No, I love Princess Kaguya more than anyone else. I am the man who should be her husband."
But none of them had ever met Princess Kaguya.
Can one truly love a woman whom he has never met, let alone seen, from the bottom of his heart?
By the way, the conditions Princess Kaguya requested were very difficult.
Each of the five suitors had different requests.
First, the request to Ishitsukuri-no-Miko was for "the stone bowl of the Buddha in Tenjiku." Tenjiku refers to ancient India. The request was to bring a stone bowl used by a Buddha in India.
What was requested of Kuramochi-no-Miko was, "One branch of a tree with silver roots, a golden stem, and bearing precious jewel fruit that resides on Mount Horai in the East Sea."
Mount Horai in the East Sea is a legendary island said to be inhabited by immortal immortals. It was believed that there was a golden palace there, and that there was an elixir of immortality.
The order was to go there and fetch a branch of a tree with silver roots, a gold stem, and bearing white precious jewel fruit.
The request to the Minister of the Right, Abeno-Miushi, was for "a coat made from the skin of a fire rat found in morokoshi."
Morokoshi refers to ancient China.
Fire rats are legendary rats that are said to never burn to death even if they enter a blazing fire.
The clothes were made from the skin of the fire rat, so if you wore them, you wouldn't get hot at all even if you entered a fire, and you wouldn't burn to death.
It was unclear whether such a thing existed, but Princess Kaguya requested that he bring it anyway.
Dainagon, Otomo-no-Miyuki, was asked to bring the five-colored jewel attached to the dragon's neck.
Chuunagon, Issonokami-no-Marotari, was asked to bring a koyasu-gai shell, a talisman for safe childbirth said to be carried by swallows.
When Okina heard Princess Kaguya 's request, he said, "All five of these tasks are impossible to achieve. I cannot tell you that."
However, Princess Kaguya said calmly, "It's not that difficult."
Okina told the five noblemen, who were waiting outside, of the difficult task Princess Kaguya had set for them.
When the five noblemen heard the request that had been made to them, they each shook their heads in exasperation and went home, saying in unison, "There's no way that's possible."