World and Lore / Historical mystery

The Princess Who Came Down from the Moon

The Story of the Bamboo Cutter is Japan's oldest surviving folktale, and is thought to date back to the early 10th century. It tells of an old man who one day came upon a glowing shoot of bamboo, wherein there lay a tiny but radiantly beautiful baby girl. Taking the girl into his charge, the old man and his wife lovingly raised her. She came to be known by the curious title of Kaguya, Shining Princess of the Lithe Bamboo. Later on in the tale, it comes to light that the exquisite Kaguya was not from our world at all, and that her true home lay in a city on the surface of the moon. The tale concludes when a group of this city's inhabitants is sent to retrieve the girl. Many try to prevent them, but they are lulled to sleep by a mysterious force, never again to set eyes on the unearthly beauty of Princess Kaguya.