the stone begging-bowl
From the foot of the Buddha. Dark as a switched-off screen, warm as the hand that held it. current bid — 三 moon-tears
received — 受け取りました
竹取の翁the old bamboo cutter
it began
in the bamboo
Long ago, in a valley scored with chips and brooks alike, an old man went each morning into the grove to cut bamboo — for baskets, for fences, for the small instruments of a small life. He did not know the moon was already watching him.
frame 01 / 11 — the bamboo cutter goes to work
光る竹a stalk that glows from within
a light
inside a stem
One stalk among ten thousand was lit from the inside — a soft amber pulse, the colour of a circuit board left running through the night. The old man touched it and the grove went quiet, the way a room goes quiet when something true is about to be said.
frame 02 / 11 — a stalk that glows from within
かぐや姫の発見the bamboo cutter's discovery
a child
no bigger
than a thumb
Inside, curled like a comma, lay a girl three inches tall — not a doll, not a spirit, but something the moon had grown the way an engineer grows a crystal: patiently, in silence, expecting it to be carried home one day.
frame 03 / 11 — the bamboo cutter's discovery
なよ竹のかぐや姫the supple-bamboo princess
she grew
like a thought
In three months she was a woman, luminous and quick, the kind of bright that makes a valley build a city around it. They named her Kaguya — the shining one — and they did not yet understand that a name is also a countdown.
frame 04 / 11 — she grows like a thought
回路の蟋蟀the circuit-cricket
a cricket
made half
of copper
In the garden lived a cricket with sumi-ink legs and antennae of etched trace, and every dusk it sang one note that no instrument could hold. Kaguya listened to it the way you listen to a fan in a server room — comforted, and a little sad, that something so small keeps working through the dark.
frame 05 / 11 — the circuit-cricket sings
五人の貴公子five noble suitors
five who came
to ask
Princes arrived — venture-lords, each certain. To each she gave one impossible errand: fetch the stone bowl, the jeweled branch, the fire-rat robe, the dragon's neck-jewel, the swallow's cowrie. None returned with the true thing. She had not been cruel. She had only needed time, and a way to say: I am not for keeping.
- 壱 the stone begging-bowl of the Buddha
- 弐 a branch from the jeweled tree of Hourai
- 参 a robe woven of fire-rat fur
- 肆 the rainbow jewel from a dragon's neck
- 伍 the easy-birth cowrie a swallow carries
frame 06 / 11 — five impossible suitors
月への文a letter to the moon
the moon
wrote back
On the fifteenth night of the eighth month, a letter came — not on paper but in the colour of the light: at the next full moon, you come home. Kaguya did not argue. She had always known the valley was a foster home, lovingly run, temporary by design.
frame 07 / 11 — a letter to the moon
半田の蛍the solder-fireflies
the small lights
came to say
goodbye
The night before, the solder-fireflies rose from the grove — each one a drop of cooled metal that had decided, briefly, to glow. They drifted around her once, the way old colleagues circle on a last day, and then settled, dim, into the bamboo to wait for the morning.
frame 08 / 11 — the solder-fireflies gather
別れの競りthe farewell auction
the bid
is open
Before she goes, Kaguya offers her earthly belongings — the eleven impossible lots the princes once chased. Bids are not in money. Bids are in moon-tears: small, salt, given freely. Press a wax seal to leave one. Nothing is for sale; everything is for remembering.
a branch of the jeweled tree
Cut from Hourai, where the leaves are silver and the fruit is true. It hums faintly, like a board left on. current bid — 七 moon-tears
received — 受け取りました
the fire-rat robe
Woven of fur that does not burn. Folded small, it is the size of a regret you have made peace with. current bid — 五 moon-tears
received — 受け取りました
the dragon's neck-jewel
A bead of every colour at once, the way a thought is, just before you can name it. Cool to the touch. current bid — 十一 moon-tears
received — 受け取りました
the swallow's easy-birth cowrie
Small as a comma, white as the inside of a bamboo stalk. It was always going to be hard to get. current bid — 二 moon-tears
received — 受け取りました
a basket of cut bamboo
The first thing the old man ever gave her. Plain. Green going gold. The least impossible lot, and the dearest. current bid — 九 moon-tears
received — 受け取りました
the circuit-cricket, in its cage
Still singing its one note. Sumi-ink legs, copper-trace antennae. It will outlast all of us, quietly. current bid — 四 moon-tears
received — 受け取りました
a jar of solder-fireflies
Eleven of them, dim until shaken. Each a drop of cooled metal that chose, once, to glow. Do not open near a window. current bid — 六 moon-tears
received — 受け取りました
the elixir of life (unopened)
The Emperor never drank it; he had it burned on the highest mountain. The smoke still rises. The vial is empty now, but the gesture is not. current bid — 富士 moon-tears
received — 受け取りました
a robe of feathers (the hagoromo)
Not for sale, in truth — she must wear it home. But you may hold the hem a moment. It weighs nothing, and forgetting. current bid — ∞ moon-tears
received — 受け取りました
one glowing bamboo stalk, used
The one she came in. Light still flickering at the base, the colour of a board left running through the night. Sold as-is. Comes with the valley's whole story. current bid — 一 moon-tear
received — 受け取りました
frame 09 / 11 — the farewell auction
天人の来迎the celestial procession
they came down
on a beam
of light
At the full moon a procession descended — figures of light with circuit-trace haloes, patient as a deployment that cannot be cancelled. They wrapped her in the feather-robe, and with it went her memory of us, the way a session ends and the cache is cleared. She did not weep then. We did.
frame 10 / 11 — the celestial procession descends
月は満ちたthe moon is full
the bid is closed. the moon is full.
thank you for staying.
frame 11 / 11 — the moon is full