The Princess from the Moon
Japan's oldest surviving story tells of a girl found glowing inside a bamboo stalk, who was really a princess from the Moon.
What was reported
The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, written in Japan over a thousand years ago, begins with an old bamboo cutter who finds a tiny, glowing girl inside a stalk of bamboo. She grows into a woman of extraordinary beauty, Kaguya-hime, courted by princes and by the emperor himself, but she turns them all away.
At last she reveals that she comes from the Moon, and on the night of the full Moon, beings in shining robes descend from the sky to take her home. She leaves the emperor an elixir of life, which he orders burnt on the highest mountain, near heaven. That, says the tale, is why smoke rises from Mount Fuji.
Explanations offered
It's a work of fiction and the oldest surviving Japanese prose narrative. Modern readers have noticed how much it resembles a story of visitors from another world. Japan's lunar orbiter of 2007 was named Kaguya after her.
- When
- Written down in the 10th century
- Where
- Mount Fuji, Japan
- Witnesses
- Japanese tradition
- Status
- Legend
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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