今は昔、竹取の翁という者がいた。野山に交じって竹を取り、様々な用事に使っていた。ある日のこと、いつものように竹林に入ると、根元が光り輝いている竹を見つけた。不思議に思って近づいてみると、筒の中が光り、そこには可愛らしい三寸ほどの女の子が座っていた。「私が見つけたのだから、私の子になる運命に相違ない」と翁は思い、大切に育てることにした。
Once upon a time, there was a man called Taketori-no-Okina (the Old Bamboo Cutter). He would go into the fields and mountains to collect bamboo, which he used for various purposes. One day, when he entered a bamboo grove as usual, he found a stalk of bamboo whose base was shining brightly. Thinking it strange, he approached and found that the inside of the stalk was glowing, and a lovely girl about three inches tall was sitting there. Thinking, "Since I found her, it must be her destiny to become my child," the old man decided to raise her with great care.
その子を家へ連れて帰り、妻に預けた。子どもがいなかった老夫婦にとって、この子は天からの授かりものにほかならなかった。それ以来、翁が竹を取るたびに、黄金が入った竹を見つけるようになり、家はたちまち豊かになった。三ヶ月もすると、その子はあっという間に驚くほど美しい娘へと成長し、「かぐや姫」と名付けられた。
He took the child home and entrusted her to his wife. For the old couple who had no children, this child was nothing other than a gift from heaven. From then on, every time the old man cut bamboo, he would find bamboo containing gold, and the family quickly became wealthy. After three months, the child grew in the blink of an eye into an incredibly beautiful young woman and was named "Kaguya-hime."
かぐや姫の美しさといったら、世間に並ぶ者がないほどであった。その噂は瞬く間に広まり、数え切れないほどの男たちが「どうか妻になってほしい」と申し込んできた。熱心な五人の貴公子たちも、何とかして結婚しようと競い合ったが、かぐや姫は無理難題を押し付け、誰一人として応えることはできなかった。帝までもが姫の美しさに心を奪われ、手紙を送り続けたものの、姫は決して首を縦に振ることはなかった。
As for Kaguya-hime's beauty, there was no one in the world who could equal her. Rumors spread in an instant, and countless men applied, saying, "Please become my wife." Five persistent noblemen also competed to marry her somehow, but Kaguya-hime imposed impossible tasks on them, and not a single one could respond. Even the Emperor was captivated by the princess's beauty and continued to send letters, but the princess never nodded in agreement.
やがて秋になり、月が美しく満ちる頃になると、かぐや姫は毎夜月を見上げては深く悲しむようになった。翁が心配して理由を尋ねた末に、姫はついに口を開いた。「実は、私はこの国の人ではなく、月の都の者なのです。来月の満月の夜には、迎えが来て月へ帰らざるを得ないのです」と泣きながら打ち明けたのである。
Eventually, when autumn arrived and the moon grew beautiful and full, Kaguya-hime began to look up at the moon every night and grieve deeply. After the old man worriedly asked for the reason, the princess finally spoke. "Actually, I am not a person of this country, but of the Capital of the Moon. On the night of the next full moon, a welcoming party will come, and I will have no choice but to return to the moon," she confessed while crying.
満月の夜、翁や帝は数千人の兵士を遣わして姫を守ろうとした。しかし、月の使者たちが降りてくると、兵士たちは光に目がくらみ、全く戦うどころではなかった。かぐや姫は育ててくれた翁たちに深く感謝しつつ、不死の薬と手紙を残して、静かに月の都へと昇っていった。残された翁たちは悲しみのあまり、ただ泣き崩れるほかなかったのである。
On the night of the full moon, the old man and the Emperor dispatched thousands of soldiers to try to protect the princess. However, when the messengers from the moon descended, the soldiers were blinded by the light and were in no state to fight at all. While deeply thanking the old man and his wife who had raised her, Kaguya-hime left behind an elixir of immortality and a letter, and quietly ascended to the Capital of the Moon. The remaining old couple could do nothing but break down in tears from their deep sadness.