Once there was a bamboo child who lived underground, below a bamboo forest. Her name was Shiro, meaning “white.” She was a member of the Takenoko family of Japan. She had 10 siblings so happy among themselves beneath the surface of the earth until one day Shiro got curious about what grew above the soil.

So, Shiro shot up above her subterranean home and saw another world: it was a vast forest planted by huge bamboo growths swaying in the breeze. The light emitted by the sun filtered by the sashaying bamboo stalks shone in chartreuse on the ground. It somehow gave Shiro a sense of magic, stunning to behold!

Her older sister pleaded for Shiro to come back underground, but the beauty was too mesmerizing with the chirping birds hopping from one bamboo to another, the dragonflies in red, blue and orange gliding in the air, swans whooping at a pond nearby, and so much of creation going on all at the same time.

Soon enough, her siblings were inevitably drawn by the same enchantment. That’s how we humans have our bamboo shoots.