Taketori Monogatari (竹取物語, "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter"), also known as Kaguya Hime no Monogatari (かぐや姫の物語, "The Tale of Princess Kaguya"), is a 10th century Japanese folktale. It is considered the oldest extant Japanese narrative and an early example of proto-science fiction.
It primarily details the life of a mysterious girl called Kaguya-hime, who was discovered as a baby inside the stalk of a glowing bamboo plant. She is said to be from Tsuki-no-Miyako (月の都 "The Capital of the Moon") and has unusual hair that "shines like gold".
Anime and manga
- In the anime series InuYasha, the title character wears a haori made from the fur of the fire rat; derived from The Tale of the Bamboo-Cutter. The plot of the second InuYasha movie The Castle Beyond the Looking Glass revolves very heavily around the fairy tale.
- The full title of the Leiji Matsumoto series and movie Queen Millennia is Shin Taketori Monogatari: Sennen Joō, which translates to New Tale of the Bamboo-Cutter: 1000-year Queen.
- The manga Kaguyahime by Reiko Shimizu is based on the Kaguya-hime story.
- Planet Ladder by Yuri Narushima has a similar story centered around a girl named Kaguya who discovers that she is a long-lost princess destined to save one of nine worlds.
- In Sailor Moon number eleven of the manga the story has the same references to Princess Kaguya. In Sailor Moon the anime series, the five main characters are on a quest to find and protect the Moon princess. The small and beautiful Moon princess had been reincarnated and sent to the Earth in order to be protected from a horrible battle taking place on the Moon. In some episodes of Sailor Moon Usagi can be seen crying as she looks at the Moon and remembers her past. This can be seen also in Act 10 of the live-action adaptation.
- The anime series Oh! Edo Rocket, not only is loosely based on the tale of Kaguya-hime, but uses the tale itself within the story. This is done deliberately for comedic value. The anime was adapted from a stage play.
- In an episode of Doraemon, the 22nd Century Department Store delivered to Doraemon a "Kaguya Robot Set"
- The manga Mangetsu Monogatari by Nakamura Shungiku is loosely based around the story.
- In the anime version of Yakitate!! Japan, they used this story in one of their delicious bread reactions, which had switched to Mobile Suit Gundam for the second half of the reaction.
- The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter has inspired several other anime centred around a princess from the Moon, including Turn A Gundam and Yoake Mae yori Ruriiro na.
- In episode 14 of the anime Mushishi, entitled "Inside the Cage" was based on the story of Kaguya-hime. In this episode, a childless couple end up conceiving after spending time with a shining white bamboo stalk, and the child the woman gives birth to is born inside of a bamboo shoot.
- In Sakura Hime Kaden, the heroine, Sakura is a descendant of Princess Kaguya.
Read more on Taketori Monogatari . This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter".
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