Blog · The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, Part 2
The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, Part 2 (1): 4 Expressions
The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter continues with Part 2, "The Five Treasures." At the end of Part 1, Kaguya-hime agreed to marry the man who brought her the thing she wanted to see. Now five noblemen hear what she wants — and none of it is easy.
Part 2 is famous for its jokes. The original storyteller claims that several Japanese words were born from the five men's failures. We will meet them over the next three articles.
1. 〜という — said to be; they say
〜という after a sentence can mean "they say," "reportedly." It shows the speaker is repeating what people say, not what they know for sure.
天竺（今のインド）にあるという、仏さまの石の鉢。
A stone bowl of the Buddha, said to be in Tenjiku (today's India).
Every treasure is described with 〜という: a bowl in India, a jeweled branch on a magic mountain, a robe of fire-rat fur, a jewel from a dragon's neck, a shell that swallows have. Nobody knows if any of them really exists.
Today:
- この神社には、願いがかなうという石がある。
This shrine has a stone that is said to make wishes come true. - 明日は大雪になるという話だ。
They're saying there'll be heavy snow tomorrow.
Tip: 〜という話だ and 〜そうだ both pass on information you heard. 〜という sounds a little more like storytelling.
2. 〜ふりをする — to pretend to ...
ふり is "appearance" or "pretending." Verb＋ふりをする means "to act as if."
天竺へ行くふりをして三年待ち、……古い鉢を持ってきたのです。
He pretended to go to India, waited three years, and brought back an old bowl.
Prince Ishizukuri never leaves Japan. He takes a sooty old bowl from a mountain temple and brings it to Kaguya-hime as if he had traveled across the sea.
Today:
- 彼は、寝たふりをして話を聞いていた。
He pretended to be asleep and listened to the conversation. - 知らないふりをしないで。
Don't act like you don't know.
Tip: 見て見ぬふり（みてみぬふり）means "to look the other way" — to see something wrong and pretend you didn't.
3. 〜はずだ — should be; must be
〜はずだ is used when you expect something because of logic or knowledge.
本物の仏さまの鉢なら、光っているはずです。
If it were the real bowl of the Buddha, it would surely be shining.
The bowl does not shine at all. That is all the proof Kaguya-hime needs. She sends it straight back.
Today:
- 彼は十時に家を出たから、もう着いているはずだ。
He left home at ten, so he should be there by now. - おかしいな。ここに置いたはずなのに。
That's strange. I'm sure I put it here.
Tip: 〜はずがない is the negative: そんなはずがない — "That can't be (true)!"
4. 恥を捨てる（はじをすてる）— to throw away shame; to be shameless
恥 is "shame" or "embarrassment." Someone who has thrown away their shame no longer cares how they look to others.
このことから、ずうずうしいことを「恥を捨てる」と言うようになったと言われています。
From this, people say, came the phrase "to throw away shame," meaning to be shameless.
The prince throws the fake bowl away in front of her gate, and still keeps asking her to marry him. In old Japanese, "bowl" and "shame" sounded alike (はち / はぢ). So "he threw away the bowl" becomes "he threw away his shame." It is a pun, and not a true word history — but it is over a thousand years old.
Today:
- 恥を捨てて、先生にもう一度聞いてみた。
I swallowed my pride and asked the teacher again. - 旅の恥はかき捨て。
What happens on the trip stays on the trip. (a proverb: "shame on a journey is left behind")
Tip: 恥をかく（to embarrass oneself）is the most common expression with 恥: 人前で恥をかいた — "I embarrassed myself in front of people."
Read it in the story
Next time: a prince builds a fake treasure, and a rich man pays a fortune for a robe that should not burn.