The ninth century poet Ariwara no Narihira, a man of fine appearance, has acquired the reputation of a Don Juan through being identified with the anonymous hero of the tenth century romance 'Tales of Ise', whose amorous adventures may well be fictional. His affair with the Empress Takako, however, is historically based, and on her marriage to the Emperor Seiwa he was forced into exile and became a monk. Here he abducts on his back the beautiful Takako from the seraglio of Koko-tenno