How Science Fiction Criticized Heian Society

Featured Image: “Heian shrine bridge” by gwashley is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0 

Skills in This Piece 

This piece is showcasing my creativity, research, and critical thinking skills. It shows this by integrating sources in a way to show a new light. The piece also shows my creativity in coming up with ideas. 

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Science fiction; also known as Sci-fi, has been growing in popularity in the past few years. This possibly comes from the idea that sci-fi is the literature of ideas; imaginative literature. Sci-fi can take people to the stars and beyond and Sci-Fi has been used in a way to criticize. society and culture of that period. This can be seen the best in Japanese sci-fi. Japanese sci-fi is no stranger to this concept. Godzilla comments on the use of nuclear power and weapons in Japan. Evangelion reflects on the mannerism of people in Japanese society. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind remarks on technology versus the environment. These examples would make it seem like sci-fi in Japan is a recent trend, especially in a  post-World War II Japan, but it isn’t. The sci-fi in Japan being used as a way to criticize society has been around since the Heian Period with Takeroi Monogatari also known as The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter is the story of a bamboo cutter that one day cuts some bamboo down and finds a girl in it. The man takes the girl; named Kaguya, home and she turns into a baby. The bamboo cutter and his wife raise the baby as their own. When the Kaguya gets older, the bamboo cutter decides the girl is too good for the simple life, so he takes her to court and she becomes a noble . Some guys come to court to marry her, but she isn’t interested. Thus, she gives them some super hard tasks. Soon, the Emperor comes for her. Kaguya tries to run him off, but it doesn’t work. She calls for her people in the Heavens/Moon to come save her. In the End, she goes back to the Moon/Heavens. From that summary, it wouldn’t be believed that this story says anything about the Heian Period, but it does. The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter comments on the role/treatment of women, love, and nobility. Furthermore, the story uses these concepts in a way that makes this story the mother of sci-fi literature. 

Aliens have been a staple of science fiction for decades. Aliens, in particular, have probably been so popular because they spark interest in the unknown. The thought that in the wide universe there being life that is as intelligent or even more intelligent than us is exciting. It could almost be like saying we have God(s) in the universe. This is what aliens in The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter represent. They are God’s coming down from the heavens which in the tale of the bamboo cutter they do. The gods/aliens have come down from the heavens to answer the prayers of the people. “Some years later, for the purpose of benefiting mankind, the Great Bodhisattva of Fuji Sengen came down from the top of the mountain and took abode in the village at its foot. Thus all those who their way to the path of love and pray to Great Bodhisattva always find their prayers answered.(Mills 42)” Kaguya represents one of these God(s)/Aliens because she comes down from the Heavens/Moon and helps the people.  The old man and his wife wanted a child and they got one. However as Kaguya became older and more beautiful, the bamboo cutter felt that she was too good for the rural life. This belief comes from the idea that nobility is descended from God(s) as the Emperor is descended from Atemarasu or could represent other deities. “Later Kaguya-hime and the governor manifested themselves as deities, and are called the Great Bodhisattva of Fuji Sengen. (Mills 42)”Since in the eyes of the bamboo cutter, Kaguya is a God/Alien, then she doesn’t belong to him, but to the nobility. This is something the story goes on to criticize. Kaguya’s life becomes horrorous after she moves in with nobility. She’s treated more like an object than a person. Men harass even when she is clearly not interested. The role of women during this period was not the best. It was for them to get married to a man and hopefully give birth to a male heir. “This sums up what seem to be minimum and necessary conditions for the existence of marriage as an institution in Heian society: 1) the physical relationship between man and woman, continuing normally over an extended period of time and resulting in children; 2) the recognition of the relationship by the society as an accepted mode of behavior; and 3) the acknowledgment of family responsibilities (however minimal) by both of the marriage.(McCullough 104-105)” Kaguya clearly shows how old this system is detrimental to women because it doesn’t give them any choice in the decision making because they will one day be a man who comes that she cannot deny. The nobility system also shows that the nobility were looking into themselves and not onto the people. It’s somewhat sad because this system is slowly reach the lower class. Thus, creating a vicious cycle that not even God/Aliens can fix. “The establishment of patriarchal authority and the subordination of women originated in ruling stratum, and gradually proceeded downward to the lower class (Wakita and Gay 84).”The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter hammers in because Kaguya doesn’t appear to the nobility through her own free will. She first shows up to the bamboo cutter and his wife answering their call for a child. This is a reflection that the nobility have stray from their purpose and from their godly hood because a literal God/Alien who came down from the heavens who didn’t  come to them first. This says that the nobility are not worthy because they were a lot more focused on romance and on their own individual lives. In the story, there is no mention of the nobility talking about the normal folks and how they should better their lives. While Kaguya comes down to help better the lives of two individuals which really shows that she is a God among mortals. Indeed, The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter is an interesting story that uses aliens to represent gods and compares them to Japanese nobility that are supposedly gods in mortal flesh. From this comparison, a conclusion can be made that the nobility were not that great. 

Science fiction has always been a genre known for its creative way of criticizes society. Most people would believe that this is a modern concept, but for Japan at least this concept has been around since the Heian period. The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter is a great example of this. The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter gives insight into life and perception of nobility during the Heian Period while using sci-fi elements. Kaguya is sent from the stars to answer the prayers of two people. Kaguya correlates to an alien, but once you see the context of the rest of the story that alien part of her starts to correlate to being a God. Kaguya grows beautiful over time and the Bamboo Cutter feels that she does belong to normal life,but to a noble life. The nobility is seen as Gods in the mortal plate and since Kaguya came from the Heavens then she belongs to them. The concept of God does not just belong to the nobility, but everyone who needs God. Kaguya came down to not be a part nobility. She came to fill a hole in the need of the people. The so-called a hole that wasn’t being filled by the nobility/the gods in mortal flesh. The story goes further into this idea by putting a literal alien/God in the position of what the nobility do every single day. In particular since she is a woman she is treated as an object than as a person. Men are constantly fighting for her affection and she has no say in what she wants especially when the Emperor comes. All of this just shows that the role/treatment of women was very poor even if their noblewomen.  This also shows that even though the perception of nobility at the time was as Gods they are nothing compared to actual being who come from the heavens because they do not answer the prayers of the people like Kaguya. All in all, The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter is an interesting story telling us about the nobility during the Heian Period while being the mother of Japanese science fiction. 

Work Cited

Mills, D. E.. “Soga Monogatari, Shintoshu and the Taketori Legend.” Monumenta Nipponica, vol. 30, no. 1, 1975, p. 42.

Wakita Haruko, and Suzanne Gay. “Marriage and Property in Premodern Japan from the Perspective of Women’s History.” Journal of Japanese Studies, vol. 10, no. 1, 1984, p.84.

McCullough,William H. “Japanese Marriage Institutions in The Heian Period.” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, vol. 27, 1967, p. 103-104.