The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter

"'Taketori Monogatari' ('The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter') was probably written late in the ninth or early in the tenth century. Mention at the end of the tale that smoke still rose from Mount Fuji, a sign it was an active volcano, is an important clue to the date of composition, for we know that by 905 A.D. the mountain had ceased to emit smoke. Many theories have been published about the authorship, but they are little more than guesses. The names of five suitors, resembling those of members of the Japanese court of the eighth century, have suggested to some scholars that 'The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter' was conceived of as a satire directed against a certain court faction, but this is not how the work was read in later centuries. Today it is thought of mainly as a children's story."