Now at this moment,
when I don the heavenly robe—
only now I know
how dear you were to me.
- Meaning
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Now, as I don the heavenly robe at this final moment, I have come to know anew how dear you are to me.
- Commentary
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This poem was composed by Princess Kaguya and sent to the Emperor before she was taken by the messengers from the moon and returned to the lunar capital.
Princess Kaguya tasted a little of the “elixir of immortality” brought by the messengers and sent the rest to the Emperor as a keepsake. When the messengers made her put on the heavenly robe, her gratitude to the bamboo cutter and her feelings for the Emperor vanished, and she rose up to the moon.
Princess Kaguya had been cast down to the earth because she had committed some offense on the moon.
- Source
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Taketori Monogatari
- Other
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