Princess Snow Kaguya:
Information | Name Origin




click for larger version Princess Snow Kaguya is the main villain from the Sailor Moon S movie. Her intention is to cover the Earth in snow and ice to make it part of her "collection" of snow-covered planets. Long ago, she tried to cover the Earth in ice, but failed when she the Ginzuishou melted the ice and saved the planet. She has once again made her way to Earth to try again. A piece of her comet has been lost and she cannot proceed without it. She sends her minions, the Snow Dancers, to search for the missing shard. A young astronomer named Kakeru Oozora finds the shard and keeps it in his observatory. It attaches itself to his life force, and begins slowly stealing his energy, causing him to become very ill. Princess Snow Kaguya appears before him at his observatory to retrieve her comet shard, and he becomes entranced by her, believing that she is the mystical Princess Kaguya. She takes the shard, but because it is linked to his life force, he is brought even closer to death when it is taken. She throws the shard into the ocean and creates an enormous ice crystal that will continue to draw away Kakeru's energy until he dies. She and her Snow Dancers then begin to freeze the Earth. The Senshi attempt to stop her, but none of their attacks seem to work. All of the senshi combine their powers to activate the Ginzuishou, which destroys Princess Snow Kaguya, her Snow Dancers, the ice crystal in the ocean, and her comet. The seiyuu of Princess Snow Kaguya is Eiko Masuyama.



NAME ORIGIN


This princess's real name is unknown... but "Princess Snow Kaguya" is not her real name. Kakeru Oozora is obsessed with the legend of Princess Kaguya, and when the villain appears before him, he believes she is Princess Kaguya. He mentions the story to her, and she likes it, so she is afterwards known as Princess Snow Kaguya.

Princess Snow Kaguya's name comes from the 10th century Japanese legend, The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. In the story, an old man named Taketori-no Okina is walking in the forrest, and cuts a stalk of bamboo. Inside, he finds a tiny child, who he takes home to raise with his wife. He names her Kaguya-hime (Princess Kaguya). Afterwards, Taketori-no Okina always found gold nuggets inside the bamboo he cut down, and he became rich. Princess Kaguya grew into a beautiful young woman, and five princes came to her as suitors. She did not want to marry, so she concocted impossible tasks for them, which they all failed. The Emperor finally asks for her hand in marriage, but she refuses, telling him that she is not Japanese, so she cannot marry him.

Every time Princess Kaguya sees the full moon, she begins to cry. Finally, it is revealed that she is from the moon, and must someday return. The Emperor placed guards all around her house, but when the moon-people came to claim the princess, the guards were blinded with light. Princess Kaguya returned to the moon, leaving behind her parents and the Emperor.