The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter in Reading 1001

Sep 17, 2019 Kelly_Hunsaker_reads ... rated it liked it

Shelves: 1001-books, fairy-tales, read-in-2019, asian, read-the-world-2018-2020, read-the-world

The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter is a Japanese fairy tale. In the United States, we think of fairy tales as short little stories aimed at children, that are sweet, good and often a bit funny. However, they also have a moral or message of some importance. Because this one is Japanese, I am not all that certain about its importance or relevance. Anything I say would be a guess based on an extremely tiny amount of knowledge about the place.

The bamboo cutter is an older who works as a bamboo cutter. He ...more

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Jul 01, 2025 Rosemary rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 1001-books

An old man finds a tiny baby girl growing in a bamboo plant, and takes her home to his wife. They raise her with the aid of gold that he finds equally mysteriously in the bamboo from time to time. When she is grown, the old couple want her to marry, but she refuses. Her affection for them makes her agree to marry, but only if one of her five principal suitors can bring back an impossible treasure for her.

Up to this point, the story exists in a similar form in many cultures. I expected the usual ...more

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Jul 07, 2018 Karen rated it liked it

Shelves: travel-the-world, 1001

A short Japanese tale

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May 15, 2015 Kristel rated it liked it

Shelves: 1001-challenge, 1001-books, japanese-literature

A Japanese Fairy Tale. Fairy Tales are short little stories that impart an amusement to children (in the US) but also have some cultural relevance and maybe even a message. That is how I chose to read this. Yes, it was cute and I think my granddaughters will lke it so I will need to read it to them. Culturally, it is Japanese and not sure all the relevance but it teaches respect to elders as the mood princess was good to her foster parents and remained true to them until the end. The message for ...more

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Jan 19, 2015 Dree rated it really liked it

Shelves: 1001-read, east-asia, 2016-reads

Japan's oldest surviving work of fiction. The 1001 Books book describes it as a romance, to me it feels much more like a fairy or folk tale--or a mix of the 2. We learn the origin of some common phrases (how this was translated I don't really understand, and I wonder what the original meanings were--this book has modernized Japanese and English of facing pages--the whole thing is translated!); also the origin of Mt Fuji's name. That's all folk tale-like. But the main character an the romance fea ...more

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