The Tale Of The Bamboo Cutter

Taketori Monogatari reimagined through a contemporary lens in the six-minute short film entitled Kaguya by Gucci

- Jonathan Ho

TAKETORI MONOGATARI or The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter is a fictional prose narrative containing elements of Japanese folklore. It is considered the oldest surviving work in the monogatari form with such gravitas that it has continued to shape contemporary culture through the 2013 Studio Ghibli film, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya and today, Kaguya by Gucci.

Though its exact date of composition is unknown, the tale has been identified as proto-science fiction – Gucci’s Alessandro Michele, a protégé of Tom Ford, launched the venerated house into the fashion stratosphere with his adept adoption of sociocultural influences.