π LEGEND Β· EXP. NΒΊ0270
ACTIVE
Princess Kaguya of the Bamboo
Princess Kaguya of the Bamboo is a legend from Mount Fuji, Shizuoka, Japan, JP β a folk story passed down over generations. This file collects its origins, its meaning and how it has been retold.
Where does the legend of Princess Kaguya of the Bamboo come from?
- Location
- Mount Fuji, Shizuoka, Japan, JP
- Kind of legend
- Folk tale
- Coordinates
- 35.361, 138.727
- Testimonies
- 0
- Last updated
LOCATION
What is the legend of Princess Kaguya of the Bamboo?
Often called Japan's oldest surviving narrative, the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter recounts how an old woodsman near Mount Fuji finds a glowing stalk of bamboo. Cutting it open, he discovers a tiny girl no larger than his thumb, whom he and his wife raise as their own. She grows with astonishing speed into a woman of unearthly beauty, and word of Kaguya-hime spreads until five noble suitors, and even the Emperor himself, seek her hand. To each she sets an impossible task, from fetching the Buddha's stone begging bowl to a jewel from a dragon's neck, and all fail. As the years pass she grows melancholy beneath the full moon, at last confessing that she is a being of the lunar capital, sent to earth only for a time. On the appointed night a radiant celestial procession descends to reclaim her; despite the Emperor's guards she is carried back to the Moon, leaving behind a robe and an elixir of immortality. Grief-stricken, the Emperor orders the elixir burned atop the highest peak, and some say the smoke still rises from Mount Fuji.
π Source: Enigma Atlas
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