Part One竹取物語 1
今は昔竹取の翁といふものありけり。野山にまじりて、竹をとりつゝ、萬の事につかひけり。名をば讃岐造麿となんいひける。その竹の中に、本光る竹ひとすぢありけり。怪しがりて寄りて見るに、筒の中ひかりたり。それを見れば、三寸ばかりなる人いと美しうて居たり。翁いふやう、「われ朝ごと夕ごとに見る、竹の中におはするにて知りぬ、子になり給ふべき人なンめり。」とて、手にうち入れて家にもてきぬ。妻の嫗にあづけて養はす。美しきこと限なし。いと幼ければ籠に入れて養ふ。竹取の翁この子を見つけて後に、竹をとるに、節をへだてゝよ毎に、金ある竹を見つくること重りぬ。かくて翁やう〳〵豐になりゆく。この兒養ふほどに、すく〳〵と大になりまさる。三月ばかりになる程に、よきほどなる人になりぬれば、髪上などさだして、髪上せさせ裳着す。帳の内よりも出さず、いつきかしづき養ふほどに、この兒のかたち清らなること世になく、家の内は暗き處なく光滿ちたり。翁心地あしく苦しき時も、この子を見れば苦しき事も止みぬ。腹だたしきことも慰みけり。翁竹をとること久しくなりぬ。勢猛の者になりにけり。この子いと大になりぬれば、名をば三室戸齋部秋田を呼びてつけさす。秋田なよ竹のかぐや姫とつけつ。このほど三日うちあげ遊ぶ。萬の遊をぞしける。男女きらはず呼び集へて、いとかしこくあそぶ。
Now it is long ago, but there was one called the old bamboo cutter. He went about the fields and hills cutting bamboo, and used it for all manner of things. His name was Sanuki no Miyatsukomaro.
Among that bamboo there was one stalk that shone at the root. He thought it strange and drew near, and the inside of the stalk was shining. He looked in, and a person about three inches tall was sitting there, very lovely.
The old man said, "Since you are in the bamboo that I look upon morning and evening, now I know it. You must be one who is to become my child." Then he took her into his hands and brought her home. He gave her to his wife, the old woman, to bring up. Her loveliness had no end. She was very small, so they put her in a basket and raised her.
After the old bamboo cutter found this child, whenever he cut bamboo he found again and again a stalk with gold between one joint and the next. In this way the old man grew rich little by little.
While they raised this child she grew fast and became tall. By about the third month she had become a grown woman of fitting height, so they chose a day for the putting up of her hair, had her hair put up, and dressed her in a skirt. They did not let her out from behind the curtains, and cherished her as they raised her. The form of this child was clear and lovely beyond anything in the world, and there was no dark place in the house, for it was filled with light. Even when the old man was sick at heart and in pain, his pain stopped when he looked at this child. What angered him passed away as well.
The old man had been cutting bamboo for a long time. He had become a man of great power. This child had grown very tall, so to give her a name he called Imube no Akita of Mimuroto and had him name her. Akita named her Kaguya-hime of the Nayotake. At this time they made merry with a feast for three days. They had every kind of entertainment. They called together men and women alike and made merry in great style.