The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter

A story from the Heian period. One volume. The Tale of Genji includes "The Tale of Princess Kaguya" ("Yomogiu") and "The Bamboo Cutter" ("Eawase"), and there is also a manuscript titled "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter." The date of its creation and the author are unknown, but it is thought to have been written by a male intellectual in the first half of the 10th century, between the Jogan period (859-877) and the Engi period (901-923). The "Eawase" volume of the Tale of Genji states that "The Bamboo Cutter, the father of the story, is the origin of the story," and at the time it was already considered a representative work of early kana tales.

The story is structured in three parts: Princess Kaguya's upbringing, the proposals from five nobles and the emperor, and Princess Kaguya's ascension to heaven. When the Bamboo Cutter found a little girl among the bamboo and raised her with care, she soon grew into a beautiful woman and was named Princess Kaguya. Many men heard rumors about the princess and proposed to her, but five men were especially enthusiastic: Prince Ishizukuri, Prince Kuramochi, Minister of the Right Abe no Miushi, Minister of the Left Otomo no Miyuki, and Middle Counselor Isonokami no Maro. The princess then gives the five noblemen difficult tasks: bring them the Buddha's stone bowl, the jade branch of Horai, the fire rat's fur, the dragon's neck pearl, and the swallow's feeding shell. The five men try their best to meet the princess's demands, but in the end they all fail. Finally, the emperor sends an imperial messenger to find the princess, but the princess does not respond to the summons, and on the night of the 15th of August, she is welcomed by the heavenly beings and ascends to the world of the moon, leaving behind the lamentations of her foster parents, the old man and the old woman, and leaving behind the elixir of immortality and a letter.

The story's framework uses many traditional tales, such as the tale of the heavenly wife, the difficult courtship tale, and the origin of place names, and is centered around realistic tales of an aristocrat's courtship and an emperor's courtship. The author uses free-flowing imagination to construct a neatly constructed fictional world, resulting in a masterpiece in which fantasy and reality are skillfully harmonized and unified. The writing is concise and powerful, and here and there it makes use of Chinese classics and Buddhist scriptures. It enjoys intellectual wordplay, and while incorporating humorous satire, it also hints at a critical awareness of aristocratic society, while also reaching out to the personalities and psychology of the characters and their human suffering. It is a simple work that does not lose its realism, yet is highly romantic and fragrant. It is truly an important work that marks the beginning of the history of storytelling, as the ``origin of storytelling.''

The oldest surviving copy is the copy held at Tenri Library (formerly owned by Muto Motonobu) with a colophon dated 1592, followed by the old typeset ten-line and eleven-line versions published around the Keicho era (1596-1615). Fully printed versions with illustrations were published on boards in 1646 and 1663. There are also quite a few surviving copies in the form of picture scrolls or Nara picture books. Another copy that is considered to be of a different lineage to the above-mentioned common copies is the copy with a colophon dated 1815 held by Arai Nobuyuki.

[Koichi Nakano]

"The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, edited by Sakakura Atsuyoshi (included in "Japanese Classical Literature Series 9," 1957, Iwanami Shoten)" ▽ "Commentary on The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter" by Oka Kazuo (1958, Tokyodo)" ▽ "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, edited and translated by Katagiri Yoichi (included in "Japanese Classical Literature Collection 8," 1972, Shogakukan)" ▽ "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, edited by Noguchi Gendai (1979, Shinchosha, Shinchosha)" ▽ "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, edited by Fujioka Tadayoshi (included in "Appreciation of Japanese Classics 4," 1981, Shogaku Tosho)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

平安時代の物語。一巻。『源氏物語』には「かぐや姫の物語」（「蓬生(よもぎう)」）、「竹取の翁(おきな)」（「絵合(えあわせ)」）とあり、「竹取翁物語」と題した写本もある。成立時期・作者ともに未詳であるが、およそ10世紀前半、貞観(じょうがん)（859～877）から延喜(えんぎ)（901～923）までの間に、男性知識人によってつくられたと考えられている。『源氏物語』「絵合」の巻には「物語の出(い)で来(き)はじめのおやなる竹取の翁」とあり、当時すでに初期の仮名(かな)物語の代表作品とみなされていた。

　内容は構成上、かぐや姫の生い立ち、5人の貴公子と帝(みかど)の求婚、かぐや姫の昇天の三部からなる。竹取の翁が竹の中から小さい女の子をみつけてたいせつに養育していくうち、わずかの間に美しい女性に成長したのでかぐや姫と名づける。姫のうわさを聞いて多くの男たちが求婚したが、なかでも石作皇子(いしづくりのみこ)、車持皇子(くらもちのみこ)、右大臣阿部御主人(あべのみうし)、大納言大伴御行(だいなごんおおとものみゆき)、中納言石上麻呂(いそのかみのまろ)の5人は熱心であった。そこで姫はこの5人の貴公子に対してそれぞれ、仏の御石の鉢、蓬莱(ほうらい)の玉の枝、火鼠(ひねずみ)の裘(かわぎぬ)、竜(たつ)の首の珠(たま)、燕(つばくらめ)の子安貝(こやすがい)を持ってくるように難題を課す。5人は姫の要求にこたえようと苦心をするが、結局すべて失敗に終わる。最後に帝が姫を求めて勅使を遣わすが、姫はそのお召しにも応じず、養い親の翁や嫗(おうな)の嘆きをあとに、不死の薬と手紙を残して、八月十五夜、天人に迎えられて月の世界へ昇天してしまう。

　物語の枠組みには、天人女房譚(たん)、求婚難題説話、地名起源説話など多くの伝承説話の型を用い、現実的な貴族の求婚や帝の求愛物語を主軸として、自在な想像力により、整然たる虚構の世界を構築しており、空想と現実とが巧みに調和され統一された傑作となっている。文章は簡潔で力強く、処々に漢籍・仏典を援用し、知的な言語遊戯を楽しみ、滑稽(こっけい)風刺をきかせつつ、貴族社会への批判意識をうかがわせる一方、人物の性格や心理、人間的苦悩にまで筆が及んでおり、素朴ななかにも現実性を失わずしてなお浪漫(ろうまん)的な香気高い作品となっている。まさに「物語の出で来はじめのおや」として、物語史の劈頭(へきとう)を飾る重要な作品である。

　伝本は天正(てんしょう)二十年（1592）の奥書をもつ天理図書館蔵本（武藤元信旧蔵本）が現存最古の写本、ついで慶長(けいちょう)（1596～1615）ごろ刊の古活字十行本と十一行本がある。整版本は絵入りで正保(しょうほう)3年（1646）板、寛文(かんぶん)3年（1663）板などが刊行された。なお、写本のなかには絵巻や奈良絵本の形の伝本も少なくない。また、以上の通行本とは別系の古本と称されるものに、新井信之蔵文化(ぶんか)十二年（1815）奥書本がある。

［中野幸一］

『阪倉篤義校注『竹取物語』（『日本古典文学大系9』所収・1957・岩波書店）』▽『岡一男著『竹取物語評釈』（1958・東京堂）』▽『片桐洋一校注・訳『竹取物語』（『日本古典文学全集8』所収・1972・小学館）』▽『野口元大校注『新潮日本古典集成　竹取物語』（1979・新潮社）』▽『藤岡忠美著『竹取物語』（『鑑賞日本の古典4』所収・1981・尚学図書）』

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