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Kaguya-hime, a MythSource painting
Japanese

Kaguya-hime

01Identity

Kaguya-hime in Japanese tradition

An old bamboo-cutter discovers a tiny child shining inside a bamboo stalk and brings her home to his wife. The child grows with extraordinary speed into Princess Moonlight, and the bamboo-cutter’s fortunes change as he finds gold and jewels in the plants he cuts. When five suitors seek the princess, she sets each a task that requires an impossible treasure. Their failures reveal how little wealth and status can do to secure her hand. Even the Emperor, who falls in love with her, cannot persuade her to marry him.

Princess Moonlight’s life on earth has an end the people around her cannot change. She tells her foster parents that she must return to the moon, and the Emperor’s guards prove powerless when the moon’s messengers arrive. The princess leaves a keepsake for the old man, drinks from the elixir of life and sends the remaining elixir and a letter to the Emperor. At dawn, a moon-chariot carries her away. Ozaki’s story turns a wondrous adoption into a farewell that neither love nor earthly authority can prevent.

SourceJapanese fairy tales: Yei Theodora Ozaki, “The Bamboo-Cutter and the Moon-Child,” Japanese Fairy Tales

Top questions

The quick answers

02The names

The names Kaguya-hime answers to

Princess Moonlight

Ozaki's source-form name for Kaguya-hime in this retelling.

SourceJapanese fairy tales

Moon-Child

The source-form title used for the protagonist in Ozaki's chapter heading.

SourceJapanese fairy tales

03The myths

The myths of Kaguya-hime

1 myth, with sources recorded for each.

The Moon-Child Returns to the Moon

An old bamboo-cutter finds a tiny, shining child inside a bamboo stalk and takes her home to his wife. They raise her as their daughter, and the child grows into the beautiful Princess Moonlight. The bamboo-cutter also begins finding gold and jewels among the bamboo, and the family becomes wealthy. Five noble suitors seek the princess, but she agrees to meet only those who can bring objects that are impossible to obtain. Each man fails or is exposed in his attempt. The Emperor then sends for Princess Moonlight and falls in love with her, but she refuses to marry him as well.

When Princess Moonlight learns that she must return to the moon, her foster parents grieve and the Emperor orders guards around the house. She tells the old couple that no earthly force can prevent her departure, though she loves them and wishes to stay. A moon-chariot arrives, and its leader explains that the princess is being taken back to the place from which she came. She gives her foster father a keepsake, drinks a little of the elixir of life and sends a letter and the rest of the elixir to the Emperor. The chariot rises into the sky at dawn, leaving the household to watch her go.

The Moon-Child Returns to the Moon, a MythSource painting of the scene