is a 1987

Japanese film The has a history that spans more than 100 years. Japan has one of the oldest and largest film industries in the world; as of 2021, it was the fourth largest by number of feature films produced. In 2011 Japan produced 411 feature films that ea ...

directed by

Kon Ichikawa was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. His work displays a vast range in genre and style, from the anti-war films '' The Burmese Harp'' (1956) and '' Fires on the Plain'' (1959), to the documentary ''Tokyo Olympiad'' (1965), which won t ...

. It is based on ''

The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter is a (fictional prose narrative) containing elements of Japanese folklore. Written by an unknown author in the late 9th or early 10th century during the Heian period, it is considered the oldest surviving work in the form. The story detail ...

'', a 10th-century Japanese fairy tale about a girl from the Moon who is discovered as a baby inside the stalk of a glowing

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, bu ...

plant.

Plot

One day bamboo cutter Taketori-no-Miyatsuko (

Toshiro Mifune was a Japanese actor who appeared in over 150 feature films. He is best known for his 16-film collaboration (1948–1965) with Akira Kurosawa in such works as ''Rashomon'', ''Seven Samurai'', ''The Hidden Fortress'', ''Throne of Blood'', and '' ...

) discovers a baby girl while he is out in the forest, visiting his daughter's grave. Not wanting to leave the infant to die and because of her resemblance to his dead daughter, he takes the child home with him- only to discover that the child grows at an extraordinarily fast rate. Incredibly beautiful, the now grown child Kaya (

Yasuko Sawaguchi is a Japanese actress. Biography She was born in Osaka. In early 1984, the Japanese movie studio Toho Company Ltd. held their first Toho Cinderella beauty contest, and Yasuko, almost 19 at the time, was chosen as the first Toho Cinderella, beati ...

) attracts the attention of everyone around her, including the land's Emperor. Unwilling to accept their advances, Kaya gives the men a list of increasingly difficult tasks. By the film's end Kaya returns to outer-space by way of a

space ship Spaceship may refer to: Spaceflight * Space vehicle, the combination of launch vehicle and spacecraft * Spacecraft, a craft, vehicle, vessel or machine designed for spaceflight * Starship, a spacecraft built for interstellar flight Music Songs ...

Cast

as Taketori-no-Miyatsuko *

as Kaya, the Princess Kaguya *

Ayako Wakao is a Japanese actress who was one of the country's biggest stars of the 20th century. Biography Wakao began her career contracted to Daiei Studios in 1951 as part of the fifth "New Face" group. She has gone on to appear in over 100 feature films ...

as Tayoshime *

Koji Ishizaka Koji, Kōji, Kohji or Kouji may refer to: *Kōji (given name), a masculine Japanese given name *Kōji (Heian period) (康治), Japanese era, 1142–1144 *Kōji (Muromachi period) (弘治), Japanese era, 1555–1558 *Koji orange, a Japanese citrus ...

as Mikado *

Kiichi Nakai is a Japanese actor. His name was given by Yasujirō Ozu. His father, Keiji Sada, also a movie actor, died when Nakai was only two years old. Nakai started his acting career while he was still in university and was awarded the Rookie of the Ye ...

as Otomo-no-Dainagon or Minister of the Military *

Megumi Odaka , is a former Japanese idol, actress and singer. She is best known for the role of Miki Saegusa in six Godzilla films from 1989 to 1995. Biography Megumi Odaka was born on May 9, 1972 in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. She graduated from Horikoshi H ...

as Akeno *

Katsuo Nakamura is a Japanese actor. Nakamura is a former Kabuki actor as well as his older brother Kinnosuke Nakamura. His first film appearance was in the 1955 film ''Furisode Kenpo''. He won the award for best supporting actor at the 5th Japan Academy Prize ...

as Lise * Takeshi Katō as Fujiwara-no-Okuni *

Kyōko Kishida was a Japanese actress, voice actress, and writer of children's books. Career Kishida became an actress in 1950, and starred in a Yukio Mishima production of the 1960 film '' Salome''. Her film and television drama credits number in the hundreds ...

as Kougo *

Jun Hamamura was a Japanese actor. He appeared in more than 130 films between 1938 and 1995. Selected filmography * ''Wolf'' (1955) * '' The Burmese Harp'' (1956) * '' The Hole'' (1957) * ''The Temptress and the Monk'' (1958) * ''Enjō'' (1958) * ''Odd Obs ...

as Sakanoue-no-Dajo-Daijin * Koasa Shunpitei as Kuramochi-no-Miko or Minister of Culture * Takatoshi Takeda as Abe-no-Udaijin or Minister of Finance *

Shirō Itō is a Japanese actor and comedian. Filmography Film * ''Zatoichi and the One-Armed Swordsman'' (1971) * '' Lupin III: Strange Psychokinetic Strategy'' (1974) * ''Princess from the Moon'' (1987) * '' A Taxing Woman'' (1987) * ''Minbo'' (1992) * ...

as Sojo-no-Doson * Fujio Tokita as Shonin-no-Uda * Hirokazu Yamaguchi as Metal Carver * Gen Idemitsu as Mura-no-Choja * Michiyo Yokoyama as Lise's Wife * Hirokazu Inoue as Ono-no-Fusamori * Miho Nakano as Kaya

Background

The film was released as

Toho is a Japanese film, theatre production and distribution company. It has its headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. Outside of Japan, it is best known as the producer an ...

's 55th Anniversary Film in 1987. Ichikawa noted that he had wanted to make this film for many years, and said his intention was to make it a "film of pure diversion".James Quandt, ed., ''Kon Ichikawa'' (

Indiana University Press Indiana University Press, also known as IU Press, is an academic publisher founded in 1950 at Indiana University that specializes in the humanities and social sciences. Its headquarters are located in Bloomington, Indiana. IU Press publishes 140 ...

, 2001), , pp. 91–92, 388–393.
Excerpts available
at

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...

. The film was selected as the opening film of the

Tokyo International Film Festival The is a film festival established in 1985. The event was held biennially from 1985 to 1991 and annually thereafter. Along with the Shanghai International Film Festival, it is one of Asia's competitive film festivals, and is considered to be the ...

, where it was not well received by critics.Kazuhiro Tateishi, "''The Tale of Genji'' in Postwar Film: Emperor, Aestheticism, and the Erotic", in Haruo Shirane, ed., ''Envisioning the Tale of Genji: Media, Gender, and Cultural Production'' (

Columbia University Press Columbia University Press is a university press based in New York City, and affiliated with Columbia University. It is currently directed by Jennifer Crewe (2014–present) and publishes titles in the humanities and sciences, including the fiel ...

, 2013), , p. 326
Excerpts available
at

. Toho promoted the film heavily, and it had the second highest theatrical returns of any film that year, but its financial performance did not equal that of Ichikawa's 1985 release '' Harp of Burma''.

Reception

Awards and nominations

* 1988, won

Japanese Academy Awards The , often called the Japan Academy Prize, the Japan Academy Awards, and the Japanese Academy Awards, is a series of awards given annually since 1978 by the Japan Academy Film Prize Association (日本アカデミー賞協会, ''Nippon Akademii- ...

Newcomer of the Year for

Japan Academy Prize Association website
/ref> * 1988, won Japanese Academy Awards Best Art Direction for

Shinobu Muraki was a Japanese production designer and art director. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Art Direction for her work in Akira Kurosawa's film '' Ran'' (1985). She was married to Yoshirō Muraki. Filmography (as production designe ...

* 1988, won Japanese Academy Awards Special Award for

Teruyoshi Nakano was a Japanese special effects director. Early life Nakano was born on in Andong Province, Andong, Manchukuo (now Dandong, Liaoning, China). His father worked for an affiliate of South Manchuria Railway called International Transport. His ...

, Kenichi Eguchi, Yasuyuki Inoue, Takeshi Miyanishi, Kazunobu Sanpei, Eiichi Asada, Kohei Mikami, and Hiroshi Shirakawa * 1988, nominated Japanese Academy Awards Best Film * 1988, nominated Japanese Academy Awards Best Director for

* 1988, nominated Japanese Academy Awards Best Cinematography for Setsuo Kobayashi * 1988, nominated Japanese Academy Awards Best Editing for Chizuko Osada * 1988, nominated Japanese Academy Awards Best Lighting for Kazuo Shimomura * 1988, nominated Japanese Academy Awards Best Music Score for Kensaku Tanikawa * 1988, nominated Japanese Academy Awards Best Sound for Teiichi Saito and Tetsuya Ohashi * 1988, nominated Japanese Academy Awards Best Supporting Actor for

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Princess From The Moon 1987 films 1980s science fiction films 1987 fantasy films Japanese science fiction films Japanese fantasy films 1980s Japanese-language films Films directed by Kon Ichikawa Films based on fairy tales Films with screenplays by Kon Ichikawa Films dubbed by Frontier Enterprises Moon in film 1980s Japanese films