Taketori monogatari (The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter)
A tale about Princess Kaguya, said to be Japan's oldest work of fiction
Taketori monogatari, in one volume in the traditional format, is thought to have been completed early in the Heian period (794-1180). While the author is unknown, the oldest existing manuscript was copied out in 1570 by Satomura Joha, according to the manuscript's colophon. The oldest complete manuscript, in the collection of Tenri Library and formerly owned by Muto Motonobu, has a colophon that dates the manuscript as copied out in 1592. There are also many picture hand scrolls and Nara-type picture books depicting scenes from the book. The work is usually called Taketori monogatari, but the formal title is Taketori no okina no monogatari (The Tale of the Old Bamboo Cutter), and it is also called Kaguya-hime no monogatari (The Tale of Princess Kaguya).
The work can be divided into three parts: the birth of Princess Kaguya, the marriage proposals of the five young noblemen and the emperor, and the ascension of Princess Kaguya into Heaven. In a gleaming bamboo stalk, the bamboo cutter finds a little girl only three inches tall, whom he names Nayotake no Kaguya-hime, and in a mere three months she grows into a lovely young lady. Many suitors, hearing of her remarkable beauty, seek her hand in marriage. To five especially ardent suitors, she imposed impossibly difficult trials as a condition of marriage. All five suitors tried hard to succeed in their trials, but all end up in failure. She even did not accept the emperor's proposal. In the end, she left behind a letter and an elixir and ascended to the lunar world accompanied by celestial beings.
Taketori monogatari uses many traditional literary motifs, for instance, the miniature person motif, the robe of feathers motif, the celestial beings motif, the impossible task motif, the origin of a place name motif, and the motif of nobles wandering in the wilderness to succeed at their trials. The story weaves together a beautiful tale of love between the sexes while also managing to deliver biting criticism of decadent aristocratic society with considerable humor.
In the "Picture Contest" chapter of The Tale of Genji (Seidensticker translation), Taketori monogatari is highly appraised as "the ancestor of all romances." We thus see that even by the middle of the Heian period, the work was viewed as an outstanding example of early romantic fiction written in Japanese. In contrast, prior works of fiction were myths, legends, and the like. Taketori monogatari is Japan's oldest, extant, original work of fiction.
Related People, Things and Events
Books
Modern and contemporary depictions of Kaguya Hime (“Princess Kaguya”)
Related Works
Past Exhibitions
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Institutions Holding Related Materials
The National Diet Library (NDL), founded in 1948, is the library which belongs to the Diet. The NDL assists the activities of the National Diet. The Library collects and conserves materials and information both from Japan and abroad, serving as a foundation of knowledge and culture and providing library services to administrative and judicial entities and Japanese citizens.
As Japan’s representative museum, Tokyo National Museum collects, preserves, displays, and researches the cultural properties of Asia with a focus on Japan, and also provides educational programs.
明治から昭和にかけて活躍した日本美術院の中心的な画家・前田青邨筆「竹取物語」を所蔵。
The Independent Administrative Institution National Museum of Art stands as the nexus of art advancement in Japan, charged with fostering the creation and development of art and culture in Japan, and the cultivation of aesthetic awareness among the Japanese people. Through its six art museums — The National Museums of Modern Art, Tokyo and Kyoto, National Film Archive of Japan, the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, the National Museum of Art, Osaka, and the National Art Center, Tokyo — the National Museum of Art carries out diverse and distinctive activities that fully utilize the unique character of each member museum.
国立近代美術館にて、小林古径筆「竹取物語」、前田青邨筆「竹取物語図屏風」を所蔵。
This institution strives to serve researchers in the field of Japanese literature as well as those working in various other humanities fields, by collecting in one location a massive archive of materials related to Japanese literature from all corners of the country.
所在地は、奈良県天理市。「竹取物語」の伝本のうち、完本ではもっとも古い天正本を所蔵。
富士山とかぐや姫伝説についての常設展示がある。所在地は静岡県富士市。「富士山縁起」に書かれた、月ではなく富士山に帰ったかぐや姫の伝承を紹介している。
External Links
アイルランド・ダブリンの図書館。日本から海外に持ち出された絵巻や奈良絵本、浮世絵などを数多く所蔵。江戸時代初期、狩野派によって作られたとされる竹取物語絵巻を所蔵。デジタルライブラリで、美しい絵巻の画像を見ることができる。
立教大学所蔵の「竹取物語絵巻 全3巻」「竹取物語貼交屏風」(ともに江戸時代中前期)をデジタル化し公開。各巻の詳細な解説と画像を見ることができる。
和紙のちりめん紙の上に、欧文と挿絵を印刷した和綴じ本、通称「ちりめん本」の「竹取物語」を所蔵。
References
- 集英社
- 片桐洋一 [ほか] 著,集英社,片桐, 洋一(1931-)||カタギリ, ヨウイチ <AU01084099> 秋山, 虔(1924-)||アキヤマ, ケン <AU00251308> 伊藤, 敏子(1922-)||イトウ, トシコ <AU00043774> 目崎, 徳衛(1921-)||メザキ, トクエ <AU01047554>
- 角川書店