Scenes from Tales of Ise

Tales of Ise is a tenth-century poem-tale, with 125 incidents and over 200 poems. A certain man from the capital, thought to be the poet Ariwara Narihira, sets out with one or two friends toward the east in search of a province in which to settle. At Mount Fuji--shown here on the right screen--he comments that the shape of the mountain resembles a salt cone. The courtly lover and his companions next come to a mighty river flowing between the provinces of Musashi and Shimosa. They draw together on the bank, thinking of home. The ferryman interrupts their gloomy thoughts urging them to board quickly. They are all wretched, thinking of the women they have left behind in the capital.