Once upon a time
there was an old bamboo cutter called Okina who lived near the capital.
The old man earned a meager living by going out each day to cut bamboo to make sieves and baskets and other things.
One day when the old man went to the bamboo grove as usual,
he noticed one bamboo stalk that was shining at its base.
Wondering what it was, the old man cut the bamboo, and found a cute little girl inside.
The old man was amazed...
This child must be a gift from the gods!
...and he took her home with him.
His wife was overjoyed when she saw the adorable little girl.
As the old couple had no children, they named her "shining princess" and decided to raise her as their own.
Strange things continued to happen after that.
Each time the old man cut bamboo, gold coins would fall from the stalks.
The old man became rich and built a big house.
Little Shining Princess grew quickly, and within three months she had become a beautiful maiden.
Her beauty was so brilliant that the whole house shone with pure light.
and the old man and old woman felt at peace just to be near her.
Word of Shining Princess spread throughout the land,
and many young men came to the house to ask for her hand in marriage.
But Shining Princess wouldn't see any of them, because she didn't want to marry anyone.
Nonetheless, one day five noblemen came to propose to her.
These five were so earnest that Shining Princess could not refuse to meet with them.
To the five men, who sighed at her beauty, she said.
I will marry the one who finds what I ask for.
The things she asked for, however....
....were all very difficult to find.
Shining Princess was hoping the five men would have to give up.
She asked the first man, Prince Ishitsukuri.
to bring her a stone pot from Tian Zhu that had been used by the Buddha.
But since it was impossible to go faraway to Tian Zhu,
the Prince hid out, pretending to take a trip, then brought an old stone pot from a temple in the mountains.
Here is the pot used by the Buddha.
Looking at the pot, Shining Princess shook her head.
The Buddha's pot should be shining.
From which mountain temple did you get this old, sooty pot?
Easily caught in his lie, Prince Ishitsukuri went home with a heavy heart.
Prince Kurramochi was asked to bring a branch from a jewel tree in Pen Lai Shan.
The tree had roots of silver, a golden truck, and pearls for fruit.
The Prince got on a ship and pretended to sail to faraway Pen Lai Shi,
but then hired skilled craftsmen to make a replica of the branch.
When a perfect imitation was completed,
he pretended he had just returned from the journey and went to Shining Princess's house.
The jeweled branch was so splendid, Shining Princess feared she might not be able to refuse to marry the man.
But while he was telling the story of how difficult it was to get the branch, some craftsman came rushing up.
The Prince still owed them money, and they had come to collect it.
So Shining Princess knew it was all a lie.
She asked the third man, Abe, the Minister of the Right,
to bring leather clothes made from the skins of the legendary white mice of Tang.
The Minister of the Right was very rich, so he paid a merchant to go to Tang and buy the leather clothes for him.
After a while he got the leather clothes and went happily back to Shining Princess's house.
Seeing the clothes she said....
If this clothes is so real, they will not burn,
...and she threw it on the fire.
But the clothes burned brightly and turned into ashes,
so the Minister of the Right went away in shame.
The princess asked the fourth man , Ootomono Miyuki,
to bring the five-colored jewels from the neck of a dragon.
Miyuki decided to get the jewels himself, so he boarded a ship and sailed out to sea.
On the way there was a terrible storm, Tossed like a leaf, the boat nearly sank.
I won't go after the dragon, so please let the storm pass!
Miyuki put his hands together and called out loud.
The ship finally managed to make it back to port.
and Miyuki never went to see Shining Princess again.
The fifth man, Vice Minister Isonokami, was asked to bring a cowry shell said to be found in the nest of a swallow.
The Vice Minister climbed into a basket and had his servants hoist him up high to where there was a swallow's nest.
I found it! Bring me down, quick!
But the servants pulled the rope too quickly, overturning the basket and tumbling the Vice Minister to the ground.
Even so, he held tight to the cowry shell.
But looking closely, all he had were some bird droppings.
The Vice minister was badly hurt and took to bed.
Feeling sorry for him. Shining Princess wrote a get-well letter.
And so, no one was able to make Shining Princess his wife.
A rumor of Shining Princess reached the Mikado.
He sent her a message saying that if she would come to the capital.
he would make the old man into a high-ranking nobleman.
Hearing this, Shining Princess began to cry.
I do not want to leave this house.
I want to stay here with the two of you as long as I can.
Of course you can my dear, We just want you to be very happy.
The old man rejected the Mikado's offer.
This made The Mikado even more curious.
and on his way back from a hunting trip he stopped by Shining Princess's house.
Her beauty was beyond his imagination, and the Mikado felt purified just to be near her.
He fell madly in love with Shining Princess.
Please come to the capital with me
I am not of this land...
I cannot go with you, even if I wanted to.
Even so, the Mikado couldn't forget about Shining Princess.
He continued to write letters to her.
And Shining Princess wrote back to him with all her heart.
Three years passed, and near the end of spring the Princess began to sigh
and her eyes would glisten with tears each time she looked at the moon.
The worried old couple asked what was wrong but she never answered.
finally, as the day of the August full moon approached, Shining Princess told them.
I am from the moon, on the night of the next full moon.
I must go back to my city on the moon, I am sad to have to leave you both.
The old man and the old woman were amazed and saddened, too.
The night of the full moon arrived .
The old man asked Mikado to send two thousand soldiers to surround the house and protect it.
Shining Princess hid in the farthest room of the house,
and the old man and the old woman sat nearby to watch over her.
At midnight, a blinding light flashed, and heavenly maidens descended to earth.
The soldiers raised their bows to shoot, but their arms would not move.
Then a clear voice rang out....
Old man the bamboo cutter, thank you for taking care of Shining Princess for such a long time.
Now she must return to the city of the moon.
Then a door silently opened and Shining Princess was drawn from within.
The old man and old woman couldn't stop her,
but just looked up at the Princess in amazement.
I will no longer understand the hearts of people on earth. First....
Shining Princess thank the old couple for taking care of her until now.
and she handed them a good-bye letter for The Mikado.
Then she donned the half coat and without looking back
she got into a carriage that flew through the sky.
And the old man and the old woman remained and saw her off to the very end.