The tale of the bamboo cutter =
Subtitle: Taketori monogatari
By: modern rewriting by Yasunari Kawabata ; translation by Donald Keene ; illustrations by Masayuki Miyata
Contributors: Kawabata, Yasunari, 1899-1972; Keene, Donald; Miyata, Masayuki, 1926-1997
Edition: "First edition, 1998"
Publisher: Kodansha International
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Tokyo
Language: eng
Number of pages: 177
Subjects: Fairy tales -- Illustrations; Children's stories, Japanese; Fairy tales -- Japan
Genres: Illustrations
Other titles: Taketori monogatari
Work titles: Taketori monogatari. English & Japanese. 1998
Description: Series of fairy tales about a young girl (Kaguya-hime) found inside a hollow bamboo stem
Notes: "Taketori monogatari" was probably written late in the ninth or early in the tenth century. It is the oldest surviving Japanese work of fiction; "The tale of Genji" (written about 1010) referred to it as the 'ancestor of all romances.' Today it is thought of mainly as a children's story, and Kaguya-hime, the heroine, looks in the illustrations as lovable as Snow-White or Cinderella; there is no suggestions [sic] of the heartlessness that is perhaps her most memorable feature"--Cf. Preface

Japanese text and corresponding English translation on facing pages

IMC copy purchased with monies from The Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership
Table of contents: value: Kaguya-hime's childhood; value: The suitors; value: The stone begging-bowl of Buddha; value: The jewelled branch from paradise; value: The robe made of fire-rat fur; value: The jewel in the dragon's neck; value: The easy-delivery charm of the swallows; value: The imperial hunt; value: The celestial robe of feathers