Повесть Исе: Сборник японской поэзии вака

Japanese collection of waka poems

The Tales of Ise (伊勢物語) is a Japanese uta monogatari, or collection of waka poems and associated narratives, dating from the Heian period. The current version collects 125 sections, with each combining poems and prose, giving a total of 209 poems in most versions. Concerning the exact date of composition and authorship there is only unresolved speculation. The identity of the nameless, idealised central character is unclear, though it is suggested to be Ariwara no Narihira (825–880). Thirty of the poems from The Tales of Ise appear in the Kokin Wakashū (905), with similar headnotes, all attributed to Narihira. The combination of these poems, and the similarity of some events in the tales to Narihira's life, have led to the additional suggestion that Narihira actually composed the work; however, the inclusion of material and events dating after 880 suggests otherwise.

The late eleventh century work known as The Tale of Sagoromo refers to Ise by the variant name Zaigo Chūjō no Nikki (在五中将の日記).

Theories vary as to the identity of the author, with some suggesting that it began as an autobiographical work by Ariwara no Narihira and others speculating that the stylistic similarities to passages in the Kokin Wakashū point to Ki no Tsurayuki as the author. Others have, based on the title of the work, guessed that it may have been composed by the poet Ise, but this is generally taken as unlikely, as none of the other known works of this period use the names of their authors as their principal titles.