The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter: Kaguya-hime's Towns to Mount Fuji

In the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, an old man comes across a mysterious, shining stalk of bamboo and finds a tiny girl inside: Kaguya-hime. The text calls him Sanuki no Miyatsuko, and that name is why Kōryō, in Nara Prefecture, is proposed as the tale's setting. Sanuki Shrine here describes itself as a shrine connected with the tale. Nothing in the story fixes the bamboo grove to any real spot, so this is one of several rival claims, and the pin marks the shrine itself.

Location precision: The tale names no real place; Kōryō's claim rests on the bamboo cutter's title Sanuki no Miyatsuko and the shrine's own description.

Another Nara claim sends the bamboo cutter up the hills to Mount Takatori. The idea is that "Taketori" (bamboo cutter) should be read "Takatori", a reading proposed by the scholar Keichū, who argued that this mountain is the tale's setting. It is only a theory, and the story itself never names the grove. What stands there now are the ruins of Takatori Castle, a mountain castle built 583 metres above sea level.

Location precision: This is a scholarly theory based on a reading of the name; the pin marks Takatori Castle on the summit area, not a known bamboo grove.

Fuji City, at the foot of the mountain, rests its claim on the bamboo groves of its slopes. A park in the Hina district is listed as lying on the site of the Bamboo Princess legend. It is the same opening scene as elsewhere in the tale: an old man cuts bamboo and a shining stalk holds a child. No pin is set, because the exact spot is not fixed.

Location precision: Fuji City's claim is a local legend tied to the bamboo groves at the foot of the mountain; the park's exact location is not pinned on this map.

When the heavenly beings arrive to take Kaguya-hime home, a feather robe is placed on her shoulders and her sadness for the people of Earth is apparently forgotten. The Nagahama area in Shiga Prefecture, around Lake Yogo, is linked to this theme through what is described as Japan's oldest feather-robe legend. The lake lies north of Lake Biwa. It is a thematic link, not a place named in the tale, so the pin is only a symbol for the departure scene.

Location precision: The tale does not name a place for the departure; Lake Yogo is linked only through its separate feather-robe legend.

The tale ends here. Grieving, the Emperor asks, "Which mountain is the closest place to Heaven?" and is told of the Great Mountain of Suruga Province. He orders his men to carry Kaguya-hime's letter to the summit and burn it, in the hope that his message would reach the distant princess. A text of the 9th century, the tale says Fuji's name came from the word for "immortal". The summit stands at 3,776.24 metres.