THE TALE OF THE BAMBOO CUTTER - C. 909 竹取物語

THE EARLIEST KNOWN PIECE OF PROSE FICTION IN THE JAPANESE LITERARY TRADITION. THE EXACT DATE OF COMPOSITION OR AUTHOR IS UNKNOWN, BUT JUDGING FROM THE TEXT'S CONTENT, THE FIRST AND LAST SECTIONS SEEM MORE AKIN TO FOLK TALE AND LEGEND OF A MUCH EARLIER PERIOD THAN DO THE MIDDLE SECTIONS WHICH DEAL WITH FIVE MALE SUITORS FOR THE HAND OF THE MAIDEN KAGUYAHIME, THE SHINING PRINCESS. THE EARLIER SECTIONS DEALING WITH THE BIRTH OF A MIRACULOUS CHILD IN A GLOWING NODULE OF BAMBOO WHO IS RAISED TO THE STATURE OF A FULLY MATURE COURT WOMAN, ELIGIBLE FOR MARRIAGE, IN THE SPACE OF A MERE THREE MONTHS, IS THE STUFF OF KOJIKI OR PRE-KOJIKI CULTURE-NINTH CENTURY JAPAN AT THE LATEST WITH AN AD-MIXTURE OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN CULTURE THROWN IN FOR GOOD MEASURE. THE CLOSING OF THE TALE DEALS WITH HOW KAGUYAHIME IS TAKEN IN A CHARIOT DRIVEN BY HEAVENLY BEINGS FROM THE MOON BACK TO HER RIGHTFUL PLACE AS AN IMMORTAL BESIDE HER FATHER THE KING. THIS LAST PORTION SEEMS MUCH LIKE A TAOIST TALE OF T'ANG DYNASTY CHINA, NO LATER THAN THE EIGHTH CENTURY.

THE TALE HAS OFTEN BEEN REPEATED IN OTHER NARRATIVE FORMATS AS A STORY FOR CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT. IT IS KNOWN MOST WIDELY IN JAPAN TODAY AS A CHILDREN'S STORY, A KIND OF CINDERELLA STORY WITHOUT A HAPPY ENDING. IN THE ORIGINAL, KAGUYAHIME ENTERTAINS FIVE MALE SUITORS, ALL OF WHOM SHE REJECTS BECAUSE THEY ARE UNABLE TO SATISFY HER REQUESTS FOR EVER INCREASINGLY DIFFICULT AND RARE OBJECTS FROM EXOTIC PLACES.

IT IS MY CONJECTURE THAT THE TALE OF THE BAMBOO CUTTER IS MEANT MAINLY AS A MALE ENTERTAINMENT, WRITTEN BY A MALE HAND(S) IN THE EARLY TENTH CENTURY FOR THE DELECTATION OF COURT NOBLES. IN AN ERA WHEN IT WOULD HAVE BEEN NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO REFUSE REQUESTS FOR MARRIAGE FROM SUCH MEN AS APPEAR IN THE TALE, KAGUYAHIME DOES SO WITH IMPUNITY. THE PLEASURE FOR MEN IN READING SUCH A TALE MUST HAVE BEEN THE TASTE OF A SLIGHTLY MASOCHISTIC PLEASURE IN BEING REFUSED.OF THE FIVE MALE SUITORS IN THE MIDDLE SECTION OF THE TALE, FOUR SNEAK AWAY IN ANGUISH AT THE DISCOVERY OF THEIR ATTEMPTS TO PRODUCE FALSE ITEMS. THE FIFTH, THE LOWEST IN RANK, ACTUALLY FALLS FROM A LADDER WHILE ATTEMPTING TO PROCURE A COWRIE SHELL FROM A BIRD*S NEST IN THE EAVES OF THE PALACE ITSELF, AND DIES.

FOR FURTHER READING, I SUGGEST THE MOST READILY AVAILABLE COMPLETE VERSION OF THE TEXT IN: McCullough, Helen. Classical Japanese Prose: An Anthology. Stanford Univ. Press: 1991, pp. 27-37.

ANOTHER VERSION MAY BE FOUND IN: Rimer, J. Thomas. Modern Japanese Fiction and Its Traditions: an Introduction. Princeton Univ. Press: 1978.

STILL ANOTHER NEW VERSION OF THE TALE AS A CHILDREN'S STORY MAY BE FOUND AS Lady Kaguya's Secret, text and illustrations by Jirina Marton. Toronto: Annick Press, 1997.　

FROM A COMPARATIVE STANDPOINT, THE TALE OF THE BAMBOO CUTTER MAY BE COMPAREDTO THE CHARACTER OF ONDINE, THE GERMAN RIVER NYMPH, IN JEAN GIRAUDOUX'S FAMOUS PLAY 'ONDINE' (1938). ONDINE, LIKE KAGUYAHIME, IS A CREATURE FROM A MIRACULOUS WORLD WHERE DEATH DOES NOT EXIST, AND WHO COMES INTO THE HUMAN WORLD. THERE THE SIMILARITY ENDS. ONDINE IS A NYMPH, PERHAPS NYMPHOMANIAC, IN HER SEARCH FOR THE PERFECT MAN. SHE FIND HIM IN HANS, A PRINCE, BUT WHEN HE BETRAYS HER WITH BERTHA, AN OLD FLAME OF THE PROPER CLASS AND BREEDING, ONDINE MUST RETURN TO THE RIVER, AND HANS DIES IN HER ARMS.

KAGUYAHIME, ON THE OTHER HAND, IS COLD TO MEN, HAS NO APPARENT SEXUAL DESIRE AT ALL, AND REFUSES ALL PROSPECTS FOR MARRIAGE, INCLUDING AN OFFER FROM THE EMPEROR. WHILE ONDINE IS A SENSUAL BEAST WHO CAN NOT READ OR WRITE, KAGUYAHIME IS AN ACCOMPLISHED COURT WOMAN FOR NO REASON AT ALL, AND WRITES SOME VERY PASSABLE POETRY AS THE STORY ENSUES.

AN EXTREMELY INTERESTING RE-WORKING OF THE TALE OF THE BAMBOO CUTTER, WITH THESE ELEMENTS OF THE CHARACTER OF ONDINE INTERWOVEN, WAS WRITTEN BY THE PLAYWRIGHT KATO MICHIO AS A MODERN KABUKI PLAY. IT HAS BEEN PERFORMED, IN SHORTENED FORM, ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS IN THE KABUKI REPERTOIRE, MOST RECENTLY IN A GOOD STAGING DIRECTED BY THE BEST PERFORMER OF FEMALE ROLES IN THE KABUKI TODAY, MR. BANDO TAMASABURO. FOR A COMPLETE ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF THE TEXT, SEE: Kenneth L. Richard, trs. Nayotake - A Play in Five Acts, by Kato Michio. (Unpublished manuscript in author's possession, 1992.)

BROADLY SPEAKING, THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF CARNAL RELATIONS BETWEEN IMMORTALS AND MORTALS. AN EXPLANATION OF WHY HUMANS DIE, AND WHY IMMORTALS DO NOT. AN EXPLANATION OF WHY SMOKE AND HOT VAPOURS ROSE INTO THE SKY FROM MT. FUJI WHEN IT WAS STILL AN ACTIVE VOLCANO. (IT CEASED BEING SO IN THE ELEVENTH CENTURY.)

THOUGH EXTREMELY UNEVEN, JAPAN'S FIRST ATTEMPT TO PRESENT A STORY WITH PARTICULARLY ARTISTIC MERITS, INCLUDING POETRY. FIRST IN A SERIES OF FICTIONS IN JAPANESE LITERATURE WHICH DEAL WITH THE SUPERNATURAL. THE FANTASTIC, AS A FORM OF LITERATURE IN JAPAN, HOWEVER, IS NOT DOMINANT.

SAMPLE SECTIONS NOT GIVEN IN KEENE OR BOWNAS TEXTS.