Kaguya Hime's Telescope

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Moon–watching…

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Okusan: What’s she doing?

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Taketori no Okina: Looking at the moon again. Always through that bamboo tube.

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Okusan: What does she see up there?

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Taketori no Okina: Probably more than we can see or understand.

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Voice-over

A fragment of fractured fairy tale? Well, the Taketori Monogatari (aka the tale of Kaguya Hime) has several elements of science fiction. A tiny baby and gold nuggets found in bamboo stems. Kaguya Hime’s people come down from the moon to take her back there. Perhaps Kaguya Hime picked up a bit of astronomy while she was on Earth. Maybe the bamboo tube had lenses and was the first telescope.

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