The Tale of Princess Kaguya (9784805320358)

One of the great works of early literature—a fantastical tale of beauty, intrigue, lust and salvation.

The Tale of Princess Kaguya is Japan's oldest surviving prose narrative and one of its most famous literary works. Familiar to every Japanese child, the story, also called The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, tells of a tiny otherworldly girl found inside a bamboo stalk, whose beauty captivates emperors and commoners alike.

Blending folklore, romance and mythology, the tale explores timeless themes of greed, lust and loss. Beneath its surface lies a strikingly modern current of female empowerment, as its heroine quietly resists the desires and demands of a world that seeks to possess her.

This definitive edition presents the original text alongside an engaging English translation by Matthew Stavros that highlights the poetry and biting wit of the tale. Insightful commentary, illustrations and superb scholarship make this a book that will appeal to every lover of Japanese language, culture and literature.


About the Author:
Matthew Stavros is a historian at the University of Sydney and the former director of the Kyoto Consortium for Japanese Studies. He is the translator of Hojoki: A Buddhist Reflection on Solitude, Imperfection and Transcendence and the author of Kyoto: An Urban History of Japan's Premodern Capital, as well as numerous articles on Kyoto's architecture and urban history. He holds a Ph.D. from Princeton University and teaches Japanese language and history, as well as East Asian and Southeast Asian studies more broadly.

Reginald Jackson is an artist and associate professor of pre-modern Japanese literature and performance at the University of Michigan. He is the author of Textures of Mourning: Calligraphy, Mortality, and the Tale of Genji Scrolls and A Proximate Remove: Queering Intimacy and Loss in The Tale of Genji.