Period: Kamakura Period (13C)
The Tales of Ise are a collection of prose and poetry dating back to the early Heian period (which started in 794), although precisely who composed the works and when they were completed remains unclear. Collectively, they represent the period from the first day of the hero’s life to his passing and are said to be about Narihira, given that the song ‘Ariwara no Narihira’ appears in many places. The text of this work includes a vermillion-inked inscription recording the number of stanzas and the volume of the poetry anthology, while at the end of the text, the inscription of Reizei Tamekiyo identifies the author as Minbe no Bure, the daughter of Fujiwara no Teika.
It was given the name “Nurigome-bon” because, as the postscript informs us, “This book… was found in the Nurigome (a closed-off interior room with heavily plastered walls, used to store books and other objects and typical of Heian palaces) of Suzakuin (the Imperial Palace of Ancient Kyoto, named after the retired Emperor Suzaku.)
The Teika-bon, copied by Fujiwara no Teika and considered to be the original version of the Ise Monogatari (manuscript) handed down today, comprises 125 sections and 209 waka poems. As well as the Teika-bon, however, the work spawned several other books, namely the Ko-bon, Shinna-bon and Hiro-bon; each differing in terms of the number of stanzas and the content of the poems. Conversely, the Nurigome-bon, with 115 sections and 198 verses, is the smallest surviving version and hence known as the abbreviated version.