This story takes place in rustic, poor village of ancient Japan which lies a mysterious and beautiful Princess Kaguya. She was about an inch long when a bamboo cutter, Sanuki Nomiya Tsukomaro found her inside of a glowing bamboo and decided to adopt and raise her with his wife. Upon finding her in the bamboo, he also discovered a large amount of gold and human-sized kimonos. He used them for his family expenses and live in a wealthy mansion and treated Kaguya as their princess.
Three months later, the princess rapidly grew up and became a divine, elegant lady. Not only that, her size grew like any ordinary person. The news of her beauty spread around the village, then to neighboring villages and later it reaches the five wealthy men. These five suitors quickly came to her mansion and asked for her hand in marriage. The father seems delighted of the proposal, but the princess feels distraught and gave each of the men different tasks to find five different mythical treasures from five impossible places to find. They protested, but made a vow to her to bring the treasures she ordered.
During those three years after the bachelors left, the princess lived blissfully without troubles until the arrival of the first bachelor, Prince Ishitsukuri. He brought the stone begging bowl of the Buddha from India requested by her. However, Princess Kaguya later discovered that the treasure is fake and rusty and it came from an old temple in the woods, thus, she subsequently reject him. The second arrival, Prince Kuramochi presents her a silver branch embodied with golden leaves from fictional Mount Horai and, same as the first bachelor, it is another fake treasure. The fakeness was told by the prince's craftsmen who intruded her house, saying that they were ordered by Prince Kuramochi to build one without payment as he initially promised then the prince quietly escaped from the house. Minister Abeno Mimuraji, the third bachelor came to the mansion dazzled the princess the fur of the fire mink from China, and without a hesitation, she ordered to burn the fur as it should be nullified by it, is a fake as it easily burnt. The minister went furious and stormed out of the mansion.
The other two bachelors didn't come to the princess to present their treasures after those three. Later, she and her parents received news from the bachelors' servants. The surprising news was Councilor Ootomo No Miyuki, who suppose to bring five colorful pearls from the dragon's neck in the sea, refuse to propose the princess. Because, during his voyage at sea, the terrible squall scared the counselor and his men. Even though they survived from it, he decided to give up of marrying the beautiful princess. The other one was from Councilor Isonokami Nomaro, whose news was shocking to them. He was tasked to obtain a cowry from the hidden nest of a swallow, which he found it on the highest roof of his mansion. He climbed the house with a rope hanging and managed to get what he thought it was a cowry, but unfortunately, he lost his balance and fell to his death. the treasure on his hand was revealed to be a swallow's feces.
Sanuki's worries grew and told his daughter that she should've accepted their proposals when she had her chance. But the princess pleaded to her parents that she doesn't want to be married to a wealthy man. Instead, she desires to live with her adoptive parents for the rest of her life. In turn, her father begged to live a blissful life with a rich man because Sanuki and his wife both grew old and frail and soon leave her soon and wanted her to be happy. This leads to Princess Kaguya in a serious dilemma with depression and her loving mother comfort and sympathises her.
In a few days, the news of the five bachelors and the beautiful princess has finally reached the Emperor of Japan. After he heard this, he immediately went to her mansion and wanted the princess to be his bride as soon as he saw the princess' face. He hastily grabbed her, which frightened the princess and vanished herself from the emperor's hands. Awestruck and confused, the emperor restlessly looking for her and apologized for his behaviour. The princess then reappears and the emperor promised just to stare at her beauty until dusk and leave her alone.
Every night after the emperor's departure, the princess would blankly stare at the full moon with a sad face. Her parents worried and ask if she was sick. She respond with a mumble and slowly the tears fell from her cheeks. Her mother comforts her and the princess told her parents her true identity. She was a real princess, born from the capital on the moon. She was sent to earth as the punishment of the crime she committed and live there until the fifteenth night of the full moon. But however, Princess Kaguya wanted to stay on earth forever until she was emotionally tortured to force to marry someone she doesn't love. Her deep sorrows heard by the moon and found her secret refuge. Sanuki regretted his actions and decided to gather all the soldiers to protect his beloved adoptive daughter from the people of the capital.
On the promised fifteenth night of the full moon, the soldiers and the servants were prepared to secure the mansion with the help of the emperor and his army. They all soon saw 'The Celestial Beings' paraded their way to the mansion while descending the cloud-like stairs. The emperor's armies were aiming their bows towards them, but they couldn't, as if they were petrified by the music played by the beings that also affects the servants, the emperor and the princess' foster parents. The princess was summoned and ascend to the stairs by their spell, wore a feathered robe that erases the memories of compassion and sadness on earth by the princess and quickly took her back to the capital, leaving her foster parents in deep grief sorrow.
