In Studio Ghibli’s The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, a bamboo cutter discovers a tiny girl inside a bamboo stalk.
The bamboo cutter, known as Sanuki no Miyatsuko, finds the miniature child glowing within the stalk and takes her home. She grows at an extraordinary speed, leading the local children to nickname her Little Bamboo. Her parents later move to the capital, where she receives the formal name Princess Kaguya.
Isao Takahata directed the 2013 film, which is based on The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, one of Japan’s oldest surviving prose narratives. The film’s watercolor-like drawings and expressive brushwork echo traditional Japanese art while giving the ancient story a modern emotional depth.
The discovery is sometimes described as finding a princess, but the first object found is a tiny girl. The film later reveals her supernatural origin and connection to the Moon, which explains the story’s tragic ending.