#the tale of bamboo cutter

[love2point0]

my piece for the @drfairytalezine

based on the tale of the bamboo cutter

[robo-milky]

I call this miracle love!

Hehe- If I were to associate Jingle Bells with a fairytale…

The scene depicted here is right before Kaguya has to leave Earth! Kaguya bides for a little more time by telling her retainers to wait for her until she’s done writing goodbye notes to her loved ones. Rollo is holding the special robe that will erase Kaguya! Cloche’ memories and feelings.

[Notes]

• So like… I’ve always wanted to do an illust based on this song, BUT- a part of me also really wanted to incorporate the actual tale of the bamboo cutter (which the song is loosely based on but they reimagine Kaguya’s castle as a club??? 😭😭). One thing I find really interesting is that in the song, they frame Kaguya’s retainers as potential love interest (not literally but for a comparison of the listener), even though I have NOT seen ANY descriptors for the people on the moon 😭😭

• Lowkey- Rollo as an inhabitant of the moon is fitting to me, since Rollo is close enough to their embodiment of a lack of desires/feelings.

• I rmb it was stated in the tale that it was a feathered robe Kaguya wears to erase her memories and feelings from earth and like… was that literal??? I’ve not seen much traditional art depicting the robe, and in the movie it was more like a thin translucent fabric???

[pukanavis]

Fuyume Hanamura Idol Story 1

ーThe Yumenosaki Academy library, two years since the establishment of ES.

Fuyume: Excuse me?

Are there any fairy tales here…?

Oh, the shelf over there is the section for picture books and stuff?

Thank you for your help.

~...♪

(Ah, she was right. Yume recognises a bunch of the books over here.)

(They’ve got a good selection to choose from but the categorising is a mess. They’re just randomly thrown onto the shelf without any care for alphabetical order or release date.)

(Oh well…apparently no one has any love for fairy tales…)

(‘The Little Mermaid, ‘Momotaro’, ‘Tale of The Bamboo-Cutter’, ‘Snow White’, ‘Urashima Taro’, ‘Cinderella’—)

(Oh! It might not be the one Yume was looking for but he’s in the mood to read Cinderella today.)

(This story is another one that Yume adores.)

(It’s a tale about love being rewarded.)

…♪

Fuyume: …? Hm? Oh, uhm, you’re that nice person from earlier—did you need something?

You were so kind to Yume earlier, so he’d be happy to give you some company.

Huh? The Yumenosaki Academy library is off-limits to anyone that doesn’t work for or attend the school?

How could you tell that Yume isn’t a student here?

Ooh, cause Yume isn’t wearing the uniform…?

That makes sense…no biggie, Yume will be sure to wear the school uniform next time.

Yume is really good at sewing, so it won’t be a problem…fufu ♪

Huh? That’s not the issue?

Yume doesn't like anything you’re saying right now.

Here he was thinking you were a nice person.

Fuyume: Huh? Yume’s name is Fuyume Hanamura.

And you are? …Anzu-san? You’re a graduate of Yumenosaki?

You’re here at your old school to do some producer work, huh? It made you feel nostalgic so you’ve been walking around the grounds…? 

Oh, is that the case? Hmm…♪

Then, aren’t you and Yume in the same boat? Yume goes to a middle school separate from Yumenosaki and you’ve already graduated…right?

It sounds like neither of us are allowed to be here.

Let's work together then, okay? If you pretend you never saw Yume, he won’t go around yelling, ‘There’s a trespasser in here!’ …♪

What do they call it? A contract, business, bargaining? Let’s do something like that…♪

If you’re willing to comply, Yume will leave you be. He isn't particularly interested in you anyway.

Yume is just here to read some fairy tales.

…♪

Fuyume: Huh? Did you need something else? You want to know what Yume is reading?

Ehehe, you’re interested in fairy tales? Sounds like we can get along.

Ehehehehehe. Yume is just reading a picture book about the massively popular princess, Cinderella. Though, he actually wanted to read something else. 

Maybe you’ve heard of it? For some reason, no one in Japan knows about it—it’s a fairy tale about an amethyst. 

Even if you don’t know the story, maybe you’ve heard this quote before?

—”The amethyst broke into pieces.”

Fufu. I guess you haven’t heard of it. Oh well.

Basically, it’s a story about an ordinary girl that comes across an amethyst that can grant any wish that she desires.

In fact, she actually fuses with the amethyst and becomes a crystalised-human of sorts.

It’s a curse put on her by an evil witch…ehehehehe ♪

The plot is kinda similar to ‘The Happy Prince’. Actually, something like ‘Arabian Nights’ or ‘The Monkey’s Paw’ might be a better match.

After transforming into the wish-granting amethyst, the girl wishes for her crush to pay attention to her, or to become better friends with people—

With each little wish she makes, the amethyst uses its power and gradually begins to crack—

Aah…♪ Eventually, her body becomes so fractured that it crumbles away and she loses all of the love and friends that she had been granted.

Her loved ones view her like a monster and chase her away in fear.

After everything, the final wish she makes is—

Fuyume: ���Ah, wait, Yume thinks you should read it for yourself to find out what happens next. Spoilers are a crime!

Ehehe. If there’s one thing Yume can say, it’s that he empathises with the amethyst girl and even admires her.

At the end of it all, the final remaining piece of her—

Becomes a ring that showers the wedding between her best friend and the one she loved in joy.

After everything, her final wish is—wait, oops, Yume just realised how much he’s spoiling. He’s really really sorry.

You don’t mind? Really? You’re super kind, you know?

Ehehe. You see, Yume shares the same wish as the girl who became a ring.

—-“I wish for your life to be full of joy.”

During her final moments, the girl whose selfish asks led her to break apart used her last wish to bring someone else happiness. 

Ehehe. Yume doesn’t have the power to grant wishes but he’ll do everything he can to achieve that too.

For example, Esu goes to Yumenosaki so Yume snuck in to watch over him in secret.

Huh? Does Yume love Esu?

It depends how you define ‘love’ but yep, Yume loves Esu.

But it's sad, isn't it? The reality we live in isn’t a fairytale.

—The amethyst already shattered long ago.

[laurasimonsdaughter]

Question, are there any tales like The Six Swans where someone has to make a Super Impossible Garment?

From what I've read, not many!

Of course there are variants of The Six Swans, each with a slightly different garment as the (nearly) impossible task. So the princess might sew shirts out of asters or starwort (Grimm), stinging nettles (Andersen), star-flowers (Lang) or thistles (Asbjonsen & Moe) to break her brothers' curse. It's notable that in the Grimms and Lang's versions the stepmother curses the princes by sewing an enchantment into their shirts. So the cure parallels the curse. But there are many versions of this fairy tale where magic clothes do not feature at all.

In the Norwegian folktale Doll i' the Grass, a king tasks his twelve sons with finding a wife that is able to spin, weave and sew a shirt in one day. The youngest meets a young lady so tiny she is hidden among the grass and she is able to complete the impossible task.

In the Scottish ballad The Elfin Knight a young lady hears an elven knight blow on his horn and wishes she could be her lover. He offers to marry her, if she can make him a fine sark (shirt or smock) without a cut or a hem, made without knife or scissors, sewn without needle or thread. (She responds with some impossible tasks for him to complete before she will do such a thing, most of which are by know more well known from the song Scarborough Fair.)

Another famous example of requesting "impossible garments" are the three dresses requested by the unhappy princess in stories like All-Kinds-of-Fur, Donkeyskin and Mossycoat, to delay her marriage. But in these stories the impossible garments (a dress the colour of all the birds in the air, a dress bright as the stars, etc.) are quickly procured by the unwanted suitor.

The Japanese fairy tale The Bamboo-Cutter's Daughter has a similar motif with the protagonist requesting a robe made from the skins of fire rats, which ought to be impossible.

That's all the examples I can think of, which rather surprises me! I'll try to keep an eye out for them from now on.

[positivefumo]

The tale of bamboo cutter revisited

Same location, but most of bamboo trees are gone

[judesmoonbeauty]

Jude Jazza Route Theories Pt. 3: Stories,

The Moon Princess, & Promises ☾.

I’ve been cooking for a while (months), but because I had so many things I wanted to say and was hoping for more lore hints, I just let it simmer until it felt right. This will contain event spoilers. As usual, this is for fun, we can’t dogmatic about things, but it’s nice to theorize. I will say that this is more of a crack theory, but I think there is some basis to it. Theories are at the bottom, if you want to skip the other stuff. If you don’t agree, that’s okay, please feel free to kindly share your theories as well. This is a lengthy-ish post ☾.

Stories: "Ya expect me to fall asleep after ya give me a cup of tea 'n read me a story?" - Jude, Ghost House Report Epilogue

"Story. Tell me one.....If I listen to yer stupid stories, I think it’ll be borin’ ‘nough to sleep." - Jude, Melted by Summer Lust, 95k Bonus Story

Interestingly, twice in game, Kate tells Jude or tries to tell Jude (depending on the event) a story to help him sleep. This may not be significant at all, but since Jude's S-Rank bonus story mentioned the tiniest detail that Jude disliked the burning smell in that story, only for him to elaborate a few months later in Roger's route release CE why he hates that burning smell, I've since learned not to overlook anything. Keep this in mind as we thread along......

The Moon Princess: "The moon light illuminated behind Kate as she smiled widely, it blindsided me, 'n I felt annoyed at the sight, that she might vanish somewhere....I tug on her hand, and start walking to conceal Kate from the moonlight." - Jude, Evil Behind the Scenes, Premium End

The anxiousness that Jude felt in this scene was profound to me, I feel certain that someone left Jude behind in the glow of the moonlight, and this screams an ode to the moon princess's tale.

Admittedly, while I know there were some who felt there were hints of 'The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter', in Jude's lore, I personally didn't see it until this event was released. I'm not saying that anyone was wrong beforehand, I just couldn't personally pinpoint where some came up with the idea, so I never had an opinion on it.

For those unfamiliar with the tale, here is a synopsis: All about the little Kaguya, whom a bamboo cutter found and raised. Her body was so resplendent in a soft, bright light that it’d given off, that her adoptive parents decided to name her Princess Moonlight. In time she grew, and five suitors tried to woo her, but failed in doing so. Even the Emperor of Japan attempted a part from these five to make her his, but also failed. Eventually, Kaguya returned to the moon leaving those she loved behind, as they watch her vanish. If you want, you can read a translation of the story here.

Of note: The scroll is covered with flowers, as I’ve mentioned in my first theory post about Jude, flowers seem important to his lore. It’s a beautiful scroll. You can look at it here.

What's the point? One of the most profound things that I noticed when reading the tale of the moon princess, were the strong emotions that everyone exhibited. For example, the moon princess herself would sit out on her balcony night after night and stare dejectedly at the moon until she burst into tears. Sound familiar? Know of anyone in game that spends hours looking at the moon vacantly like they’re about to give up?

Am I saying that Jude is the moon princess?? No. What I am saying is that I feel that Cybird used the emotions from the story as inspiration of Jude’s lore. Well, I could spend hours discussing possibilities, but let’s move because we’ve got ground to cover…..

A couple of reminders:

Fairytales & Curses: Despite being cursed, Jude doesn’t pay any mind to things if they can’t be explained by science and logic. He confirms this himself in his Halloween POV epilogue. Additionally, in his bond story, he also states that he doesn’t pay much mind to curses. However, IkeVil does not shy away from the supernatural or paranormal, so Jude is often forced to face such things that he would normally dismiss.

Jude & Kate’s Past: I think we’re all on board that they 99.9% met as kids at least once during their childhood. DarkIF & GuardIF indicate this heavily, and in each of these a promise was made between the two of them. Not to mention that Ellis spills to Kate that Jude made a promise to someone long ago that requires a lot of money and manpower to accomplish. Therefore, it stands to reason that we may see them as childhood friends/acquaintances in the main story as well.

Promises: To be frank, there could be dozens or hundreds of things this promise could be and to whom it was made.

However, for simplicity sake, let's focus the theory on promises that could've been made as children between the two of them, such as meeting up again like they promised in GuardIF, or it could be that Jude promised Kate to do something that's likely impossible such as would've been the case in DarkIF. Perhaps, it's both? Maybe she made a promise to meet him again, and he promised her something impossible?

How can Stories, Princess Moonlight, Promises and other lore hints come into play......

An Honorable Mention: For what it is worth, I feel like Jude's route is going to deal with drugs in one way or another. And a part of me does feel that it could be possible that little Jude was drugged (not by choice), and suffered from hallucinations. Perhaps, in a beam of moon light, he saw the "moon princess," to whom he promises he will travel to the moon for her. Hence, his endeavors for space travel (assuming this is the case.)This is a weak theory there and we could branch of with a lot of lines of reasoning on this, but let's leave it where it is....

If we tie the fact that Kate has attempted to tell Jude stories twice to put him to sleep, along with the hints of Princess Moonlight's tale inspiring certain aspects of his route, and the fact that everything may be hinged on a promise made between them as childhood friends (a part from all the other lore hints)......

I theorize that when Jude and Kate where children, Jude probably helped Kate out, and in order to pay him back, he tells her to tell him a story since he isn't able to sleep comfortably living on the streets. Perhaps, they're sitting together somewhere under the moon light when Kate is frantically thinking of a story to that'll help the cranky baby sleep, and that's when she tells him the tale of Princess Moonlight.

Of course, fairytales are nothing, but nonsense to Jude. I could see him complaining that no one could ever live on the moon, and despite this, little Kate tells him that while that may be true, she wishes she could visit the moon one day because it was so beautiful. It could be that Jude looks at Kate in the moon light and thinks she is beautiful.

Perhaps, Jude loved Kate when they were little? True, we don't know if they even met, we are guessing at this point, but if they did meet, how many times did they meet? How long did it take for those feelings to grow, at first sight, a couple of times?

If there is any merit to any of this crack theory I'm writing, then perhaps, out of love for Kate and wanting to see her happy, Jude promises that he'll take her to the moon.

Just a simple, but rather grand promise made out of love.

Of course, it may take him at least 100 years to figure out a way to get there, but he'll take her there all the same. Unfortunately, fate wouldn't have them meet up again after that until years later. It could be that the last time Jude saw Kate was when she was saying good night to him under the moon light?

After a grown Kate clashes with Crown, Jude still trying to keep his promise of going to the moon. Why? Because a promise is a promise, even if it's a verbal one.

If they met as children, did they recognize one another at all? My guess is no. I do believe based on the IF stories, Jude will remember Kate first, and then she will follow suit. Hence, I think his trying to push Kate out of Crown will grow stronger, but eventually he will cave and let her remain with him. After all, he's let her escape once, he's not going to let her go again.

Alternatively, Kate may just try to tell Jude a story while she's at Crown castle so she can be "useful" to him, so she tells him the tale of the Moon Princess, and that strikes an angsty memory of his, and then we get an angsty side story.

Welp, that's all I've got. To be honest, it makes more sense in my head.......I can't wait to see how far off I am with this. I don't know, maybe he does think the moon princess is real???

[deusvervewrites]

Ironically, I feel like aliens showing up or being related to the dawn of quirks would make more sense and be more believable than aliens being responsible for the events of Naruto

To be fair, aliens are a pretty common trope in superhero media. But, like, Naruto is about ninja wizards. Renaming your alien invader after the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter does not magically make her fit the setting

[deathmetalunicorn1]

can I request a child!Kaguya!reader from the tale of the bamboo cutter except she isn’t just a princess of the moon she is the personification of the moon itself?

-You were known by many names, Y/N, Kaguya, and Moon Princess to name a few, but the one thing that everyone got wrong about you was that you weren’t the moon princess, you were the personification of the moon itself.

-Beautifully milky pale skin that looked like the surface of the moon and long H/C hair is what most noticed first about you- your unearthly, even for Valhalla, looks.

-You were beautiful, men and women alike could only stare at your beauty, stunned into silence from it, unable to tear their eyes away from you if you were to walk by.

-It was your personality that really made you shine, you were elegant and graceful, but so smart- able to hold a conversation about almost anything, kind to all you met and never raising your voice or getting upset, even if it was well deserved.

-Those who knew you, the real you, the bright ball of sunshine that you were, adored you, doting on you, to them- you were a precious treasure that needed to be protected, and they were willing to do whatever it took to keep you safe.

-You were very powerful in your own right, you just didn’t show that strength often, mainly because those around you would handle any threats before they could get to you.

-You didn’t mind, but you were beginning to feel a little useless, like they were underestimating you- you were the Moon for Valhalla’s sake!

-However, you couldn’t bring yourself to berate them, or tell them to back off, they were just doing it to keep your safe, and seeing you safe is what made them happy. You didn’t want to take that happiness away.

-On a rare day where you didn’t have anyone around you, having a rare alone day, you enjoyed it, visiting the large gardens in the Hindu pantheon, your long kimono draped over you elegantly, making you look so ethereal.

-You enjoyed seeing the flowers of other pantheons, seeing the colors and variety of flowers available to you. You then heard a familiar voice, “Miss Y/N!” you turned, a smile on your lips as your good friend, Ganesha, ran up to you, beaming, “I’m so happy to see you!”

-You smiled down at him, “And I’m happy to see you my friend.” He offered you a hand and you took it as he showed you around the gardens, showing you hidden fountains, which was rather fun.

-A gruff voice then called out, “Hey you!” you both turned, seeing a very rough and crude looking god stomping over to you, one who had not taken your rejections kindly and in turn, got beat up by your protectors.

-You stepped in front of Ganesha, protecting him as this god shouted down at you, “You’ve got a lot of nerve rejecting me and sending those bastards after me! Don’t you know who I am?”

-Your voice was like ice, but your tone was even, glaring slightly up at him, “I do know who you are, Kand, God of Earth. And had you not threatened me, you wouldn’t have been injured. I rejected you- it’s up to you to take it with grace.”

-Kand’s eyelid twitched before he swung out, going to hit you to teach you a lesson. A voice shouted out, “HEY!!” and Ganesha breathed in relief, seeing Shiva there, but your attention didn’t go to the god now running towards the two of you, followed by the other strongest of the Hindu gods.

-You stunned everyone by stepping forward and delivering a vicious bitch slap, sending Kand back head over heels, leaving a pulsating red handprint on his face.

-The Hindu gods all froze, seeing you easily handling business, seeing the strength you held in your small (at least to them) body before you turned to Ganesha, asking if he was okay.

-You weren’t expecting to see his bright sparkly eyes, “That was so cool Miss Y/N! You defeated him so easily!!” you smiled softly as Shiva made it to the two of you, “Ganesha- Y/N- are you both alright?!”

-You both confirmed that you were fine, causing the destruction god to calm before he grinned over at you, “Have to say- that slap was impressive! I had no idea you were so strong!”

-You thanked him with a soft smile, your eyes closing for a moment before Kand sat up, “You bitch! Just accept me and I won’t have to get rough with…you… uh-oh.”

-Shiva and Rudra turned, hearing him yelling at you, threatening you, and the two friends cracked their knuckles, all four sets of them on each as Brahma and Vishnu guided you and Ganesha away, offering to show you another section of the gardens.

-You were pleased that you got to let out a little bit of steam and doing it in front of others as well, because it showed them that you weren’t to be underestimated.

-You felt lighter now, a bit happier, because you proved to yourself that you still had it.

[designing-witch-forms-4-ur-faves]

Heyo!! First off, checking in on ya- how's everything, dear? :3 If you've been having a...not so great time, I'm really sorry- I wish I could help and do more :< We know you're doing your best, but take some time for yourself, ok?

Secondly...ah, I've been contemplating on whether or not I should send this with my ramblings over his character (because Bulbapedia doesn't get him like I do), but, yk what? They hated Jesus for being a little cringe, too.

Ahem.

I would like to request Sophocles' father from the Pokemon Sun and Moon anime. ^^;

So, for bg info- this nameless oaf here has, and I shit you not, exactly -2 brain cells. Unlike his wife and son, he appears to be rather social and talkative- as seen in ep 19 of the SM anime, Soffy appears to have inherited his demeanor from his mother, with his smug side being passed down to him from his father's side (at least in the original Japanese dub). He's also a bit more relaxed in comparison to the both of them, if ep 26 is any indication. He can also be described as a bit of a socialite, if you will- which makes a lot of sense, considering that his design is based on the Gentleman class in the games.

Now, though he's a little more on the sillier side, I won't deny his own intelligent streak; he appears to have a level of knowledge in regards to Alola's geography, if not fascination if we take the landscape portraits within the family house as any indication. This does make sense when considering his job (being the VP of the tourism board), and provides a nice contrast to his son's and Molayne's (his nephew) love for space.

Plus, as we can also see in ep 26, he's been shown to be reading some sort of magazine regarding some island mass that we never really got to see or hear of. Then again, it is in that same scene where he admits that he's been taking the topic of temporarily moving from the house for repair in a more lax manner than his wife is taking it- emphasizing the fact that she's the one who has the final say in the household ("Alola Open House" also showcases this, as he inquires her for her input before the two moved on to explore their kid's school).

As for his dynamics with his family- look, if I could ramble about that aspect alone, we'd be here all day, but, in short, the family dynamic appears to be built on mutual respect, with his love language being gift-giving. He likes to take his family on nice trips (mentioned in ep 60, seen in ep 69), praises his wife's skills (ep 19), and often helps support Sophocles with his interests (building a lab for him, taking him to Mt. Hokulani to visit Molayne as much as he could, etc). Also, in spite of his proud personality (more evident in the original Japanese) and his tendency to hand out compliments like hot cakes, dude would turn into a blushing mess whenever his wife compliments him ;w; In fact, to make up for their lack of names, the writers often have one refer to the other by using endearing names ("my dear" in English, "mama" or "papa" in the original Japanese, "mein schatz/liebling" in German- you get the picture)

Finally, as a sidenote- it's a popular assumption that he likes to garden, judging by him helping out in said family garden in his debut and the amount of potted flowers in the house. If Sophocles portraying the old couple in The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter as elderly versions of his parents is any indication, then not only is said gardening aspect emphasized, but, if you choose to see it as Soffy seeing himself in Kaguya, brings a whole lot of upsetting implications to mind- despite the couple's support of Kaguya, it still doesn't help the fact that her mere existence brought disaster to the forest she landed in, and caused the ire of local villagers to run rampant. Add in the fact that said villagers in Sophocles' retelling of the tale look like they could pass off as his relatives (dotted eyes, thick eyebrows, and some having monobrows), and...you get the picture, sadly :(

hooooooo-ly, what an essay- sorry for all that ^^; This is not the best analysis I have for this character, so, if this feels overwhelming, I am really sorry from the bottom of my heart- you can def skip it if ya want ;w;

Have a good day!

EDIT : omg I’m so sorry I meant to come back to this queued post later to add my thoughts in I didn’t mean to answer without saying anything 😭

Anywho! I’ve been doing good. Working on another big project that I hope to share here.

Also I read through all of this analysis! This guy seems like a nice fellow, I like that he is implied to like gardening. I had a garden in my front yard. It was a rose garden. I did my best to tend to them but they ended up dying and I was so sad because my mom liked them :(

Reading this wall of text made me remember a scene I saw from the S&M anime while I was watching my brother. It was a scene where mallow reunited with her mother or something?? But like not actually it was like a freaky deaky forest or something from what I remember.

Anyway point being I remember seeing that & thinking ‘fuck, man why is this actually sad? Isn’t this show about Pokemon beating each other up in gym battles?’

My brother also forced me to play sun & moon for the DS one time. He like shoved the ds in my face and told me to give it a try. I chose Litten as my starter because I have a cat and I named him Wormpod because that’s my cats name irl.

Kanaloa : the voyage witch

[stirringwinds]

reflecting on ye Olde Hetalia strips 🤔 tbh I think as a chinese person back then, I did weirdly appreciate himaruya’s take where the First Sino-Japanese war was depicted as Kiku being aggressive unprompted and completely surprising Yao because I was concerned about portrayals being too soft on Japanese imperialism. so on that level, it’s by no means a bad or inaccurate thing to show Kiku as capable of being aggressive that way.

but—looking back, I guess it’s very different from how I’d now write the first Sino-Japanese war, particularly when it comes to Yao: Yao’s shock because it’s contrasted to his memories of Kiku as this cute kid he found in a very Princess Kaguya/Tale of the Bamboo Cutter way feels like it skips over a lot lol! Because Yao being backstabbed by Kiku really shouldn’t be a big surprise to him, when we snap in the longer timeline of East Asian geopolitics. the disastrous Imjin War in the 1590s, which came right before Japanese isolation, was a Japanese invasion of Korea with the goal of overthrowing Chinese imperial power after all. and the First Sino-Japanese war is….such a literal mirror of that in so many ways. despite its name, it was a power struggle over Korea too, and this time Japan succeeded in ending Qing China’s political influence over Korea. So—less a surprised and startled man rudely shaken out of his nostalgia than a famous but weary, injured old general grimly feeling the aches and utter weakness sinking into his bones—as his once-student finally beats him at his own game.

Kiku and Yao as I see it, used to play xiangqi (which is basically Chinese chess) together. It’s one of the things Yao “taught” him almost a thousand years ago—and they probably played shogi and go too, which are Japanese strategy games. Coming back to the 1890s, it’s the once-apprentice holding a gun to his former mentor’s head and coolly saying “checkmate”. Probably politely even, and that farcical decorum pours more salt into the wound! and Yao is so, so utterly bitter and resentful—but he’s not surprised. At all. An even longer time ago, during the Tang dynasty, he’d defeated Kiku easily despite being outnumbered in a battle because of his superior naval and military strategies. So, the way I see it, Kiku may have looked to Western military models, but Yao knows that there’s plenty in the humiliation of the First Sino-Japanese War that Kiku learned from his example. History can rhyme in some of the most terribly ironic ways. Disrespecting your teacher and elder may be very un-Confucian, but winning because of superior strategy and technology is right at home in Chinese history.

[patibato]

Muneuji's Novel [Coordinate of Kaguya] - Translation Masterlist

*I recommend reading Ushio's novel "The Recipes For…" and familiarising yourself with "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter" before reading this!

Track 1 | Track 2 | Track 3 | Track 4 | Track 5

[thestuffedalligator]

curious about why the result for the tale of the bamboo cutter is bothering you? did you think it wouldn’t be as heavily yes?

It doesn’t exactly bother me, it just. Hm.

I think it’s interesting. Whenever the poll features a story from western literature, the tags usually cut it apart into a thousand genres with a semantic line as thin as a razor. It’s not a fairy tale, it’s a novella, or a fable, or an allegory, or a ghost story.

But whenever I post a story that isn’t from western literature, suddenly stories are very easy to call fairy tales. The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter has been voted 91.7% in favour of being a fairy tale. The Thousand and One Nights is currently also at 91.7% in favour of being a fairy tale. Texts from literary traditions wildly removed from the one that created the term “fairy tale,” but people are confident down to their bones to describe them as fairy tales and not fables or allegories.

And maybe it is that these particular stories really are fairy tales and this is nothing revelatory, but it’s definitely. Something. It’s something I want to keep poking at.

[donquixotepikmin4]

limbus oc posting!!!! kaguya!!!!!!! forgot to put it in the pic but her source is tale of the bamboo cutter, also forgot to mention that her weapon is a machete named hourai

unexpectedly grew up in the backstreets, kept safe and clueless about the world by a really suspicious person she mistakenly regards as a dear friend, while one day she begins to “stumble upon” the murders of her few suitors… and she’s taught that it’s okay if they die as long as she’s still here

when that protector of hers one day goes out to fend off a particular group aiming to take her away, kaguya escapes their home and runs away without actually knowing why she wants to leave him, and soon she’s recruited to join some other sinners ✨………

[cool-thymus]

How and when did i learn that Kaguya was also a famous folklore character? From the School Babysitters manga. Yesterday 😅 According to wiki, Kaguya from The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter was sent to Earth to form attachments as a punishment for a crime. Neat! But then she returned to the Moon, peacefully. (i guess the Kaguya i know committed some bad shit and wasn't keen on going back up xD).

P.S. the kid from this manga went on giving everybody he loves his precious things as gifts so that they don't go to the sky 🥹

[heliphantie]

“I love you, my spaceman.”

The story of romance that is as fated as falling snow.

“Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon S: The Movie”, adaptation of “Sailor Moon” manga side-story “The Lover of Princess Kaguya”, was released December 4, 1994, 30 years ago.

This is my favorite Sailor Moon media ever, touching magical tale set on Christmas, that combines elements of “The Snow Queen”, “The Little Mermaid” and motives of “The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter”, known as the classic story of moon princess (which inspired Sailor Moon series as whole). One of my favorite anime movies and romantic anime in general, too. I’ve always gravitated more towards the stories of love that aren’t aimed at getting the couple together, but rather about a character dealing with their feelings, be it selfless, unrequited, otherwise impossible to conclude in conventional manner, and better that way ultimately.

Even if you’re not a Sailor Moon fan, I would recommend this short movie if you’re interested in seeing bitter-sweet winter fairytale on the holidays, especially one starring adorable lovesick kitty.