Japanese Folktale/日本(にほん)おとぎ話（ばなし）

(nihonn-otogi-banashi）

Japanese old faith in
animism

The Tale of Bamboo

Cutter / Princess
Kaguya
Yasuhiro Mori (やすひろ もり/泰博 森)

Japanese old faith in animism

Animistic Faith; Old Japanese people espoused and
feared anything great or abnormal in their life.

Worship of Kami (かみ) which are local and can be

regarded as the spiritual being/spirit or genius of a
particular place: Strong admire to nature and animal.

But, still there are some different interpretations of

definitions of かみ.

1
 Japanese Fairly Tales

So many Japanese Fairly Tales had been
influenced by the animism.

Animals or statues turn into human being; to

return favours from human, or to revenge their
grudges against human.

The Tale of Bamboo Cutter / Princess

Kaguya（かぐや-ひめ）
 Japanese
oldest folktale

 Author and
date of made
are unknown

2
  Main Characters
 The bamboo cutter,
Okina; Taketori-no-
Okina (たけとりのおき
な/竹取の翁)

 Kaguya (かぐや)

 Mikado (みかど/帝)

 A bamboo cutter, Okina found a baby, whose

size is just about 9 cm, inside a bamboo.

 Okina and his wife named her Kaguya (かぐ

や）, and raised her.

 Kaguya grew so quickly.

Within 3 months, she

became a beautiful woman.

3
 5 noblemen made advances to Kaguya,
however, she never married.
Even Japanese Emperor
proposed to her, but he
was also rejected.

 Suddenly, around mid-August, Kaguya was

grieving, and crying all the time.
 Kaguya confessed that she had to go back to
her original country; the Moon.
Because of my fate in a
previous incarnation, I had to
be born into the Earth.
But, embassy of the Moon is
coming on 15th August.

I really do not want to return

to the Moon, but I have no
choice.

4
 Kaguya left Medicine to
become immortal to Emperor.

 However, after Kaguya’s

leaving, Okina and Ouna fell
in sickness. Moreover,
Emperor ordered his guards to
throw away the medicine into
the highest mountain.

 Immortal (fushi/ふし/不死) be
came the name of Mount. Ｆｕｊｉ
(ふじ/富士) today.

5
 TODAY’s
Today, the machine of
Japanese Aerospace
KAGUYA Exploring Agency (JAXA)
which is around the Moon
for research of the origin of
the lunar origin and
evolution, and to develop the
technology for the future
lunar exploration is named
KAGUYA after the real
Kaguya and her story.

Conclusion

Japanese used to have strong
faith in animism, which later
became Shinto

Such an animism influenced

quite a lot of Japanese
folktales.

The tale of bamboo cutter/

Princess Kaguya has
etymology of Mt. Fuji, though
there are another theory of
etymology of Mt. Fuji.