Kids interview Kaguya-hime
by Charactorium · Kaguya-hime · Mythology · 4 min read
That morning, two young visitors on a school field trip sit before a lady of strange beauty, dressed in pale silk. She smiles softly, as if she has come from very far away. Her name is Kaguya-hime, and she agrees to tell them her story.
—Is it true you were born in a plant? How did that happen?
Yes, my child, and it is the sweetest story of my life. An old man, the Bamboo Cutter, was working in the forest. Imagine a silent forest, just the crack of stems under his blade. Suddenly, a stem glows with a light not of this earth. He opens it, and finds me: a tiny girl, no bigger than his hand. The Taketori monogatari says I was "three inches tall." That old man and his wife had no children. They raised me as their treasure. You know, one can be born from a bamboo and be truly loved.
One can be born from a bamboo and be truly loved.
—What was your home like when you were little?
It was a very simple house, my child. Wood, a thatched roof, set among the bamboo fields. Imagine the smell of rice cooking in the morning, and cold water to wash your face. We ate simple things: rice, vegetables from the garden, sometimes dried fish. My adoptive parents were poor but big-hearted. In the evening, I would already gaze at the Moon through the opening, not yet knowing why it drew me so. A modest home, but that is where I learned what tenderness is.
A modest home, but that is where I learned tenderness.
—They say your story is very, very old. Is it the oldest?
That is what they say, and it touches me. My story is called the Taketori monogatari, written around the year 910, in the Heian period. A monogatari is simply the Japanese word for a tale, a story. Mine is one of the very first prose works in Japan. Do you know what was new? Usually, in stories, the girl waits for a hero to save her. I decide for myself. I am the heroine, not the damsel in distress. Many Japanese stories were born after mine, like little sisters.
I am the heroine, not the damsel in distress.
—Why didn't you want to marry the princes who came?
Ah, the suitors! Imagine five great nobles, draped in silk, arriving with sumptuous gifts to win me. But I already felt that my place was not here. So I gave each an impossible ordeal: to bring back objects that barely exist in this world. In my time, a woman had very little right to say no. I said no, and with intelligence. It was not cruelty, my child. It was my way of staying free.
Saying no with intelligence was my way of staying free.
—And did the princes succeed in your ordeals?
None, my child! Each tried to deceive me. One forged a false treasure, another invented a journey he never made. But lies are always visible, like a crack in a beautiful vase. My ordeals were not just challenges: they revealed each man's true heart. You see, I was not looking for the richest or most powerful man. I was looking for someone sincere. And even the greatest lords of the imperial court could not be that.
Lies are always visible, like a crack in a beautiful vase.
—Even the emperor tried to keep you? Wasn't he too powerful?
Yes, the Mikado, the emperor of Japan himself, wanted to keep me by his side. He was the most powerful man in the whole country, my child. Imagine a vast palace, guards, gold everywhere. In the Heian period, his word was almost sacred. And yet, even he could not keep me. Not because he was weak, but because some things are stronger than all kings: destiny. I belonged to another world, and no throne on earth could change that.
No throne on earth can hold what belongs to the sky.
—Did you leave a gift for the emperor before you left?
Yes, and it is a somewhat sad farewell. Before leaving, I left the emperor an elixir of immortality, a potion from the Moon that prevents death. A wonderful gift, no? And yet, the emperor did not want it. Without me, living forever had no meaning for him. So, they say, he had the elixir taken to the top of the highest mountain, Mount Fuji, to burn it. The smoke still rises to the sky, like a message sent to the one he lost.
Without love, even living forever has no flavor.
—How did it feel to have to return to the Moon?
My child, that is the most heartbreaking part. The Moon is my true homeland, my hidden birthplace from the beginning. When the time came, beings of light descended to fetch me. I knew it, and yet my heart broke. I loved my earthly parents so much! But I had to leave. In the thought of my time, nothing lasts forever: neither beauty, nor happiness, nor even sorrow. That is what is called impermanence. I cried as I rose toward the sky, as one cries when leaving those one loves.
Nothing lasts forever, neither beauty nor sorrow.
—Were you sad to leave your parents who found you?
Terribly, my child. That old Bamboo Cutter and his wife had loved me without expecting anything in return. Imagine: they found me tiny, they fed me, rocked me, watched me grow. And now I had to abandon them for the Moon. Before leaving, I was made to put on a celestial robe that erases earthly memories and sorrows. But before putting it on, I left a letter and tears. You see, even a princess of the sky cries when she leaves those who truly loved her.
Even a princess of the sky cries when she leaves those who loved her.
—Why do people still tell your story after so long?
Because it speaks to every heart, I think. For over a thousand years, my story has been performed in theater, painted, sung. The image of a bamboo stem shining in the night is unforgettable. Do you know why? Because everyone has, at some point, loved someone they had to let go. My story says one simple thing: love deeply, even if it ends. And if, tonight, you look at the Moon and think of me, then I am not truly gone.
Look at the Moon and think of me: then I am not truly gone.
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This imaginary interview was generated by artificial intelligence from sources documented in Kaguya-hime's profile. It dramatises what the figure might have said based on what we know about them, but does not constitute attested historical testimony. For primary sources and factual documentation, refer to the full profile.