Special Exhibition for the 1200th Birthday of Ariwara no Narihira
The Tales of Ise
Courtly Love and Poems Reflected in the Arts- Saturday, November 1 – Sunday, December 7, 2025
| Closed | Closed on Mondays, except November 3 and 24, and closed on November 4 and 25 |
|---|---|
| Hours | 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.（last entry: 4:30 p.m.） |
| General admission (On-line timed-entry tickets) | Adult 1500 yen, Student 1200 yen |
| Gallery | 1, 2, 5 |
Ariwara no Narihira (825–880) lived in the early Heian period. An aristocrat and grandson of an emperor, he was a superb waka (Japanese poem) poet. The poems by Narihira in the Kokin Wakashū Poetry Anthology and other anthologies also suggest that he was a man of many love affairs. The Tales of Ise is a collection of short tales centered on waka, mostly by Narihira. Composing that collection began shortly before 905, when the Kokin Wakashū was complied, and continued until the latter half of the tenth century, as more material was added, eventually reaching its final format, with 125 episodes.
A picture scroll of the Tales of Ise is mentioned in “The Picture Contest” chapter of The Tale of Genji, where participants are competing over who is the better painter. We know, then, that the Tales of Ise had already become a painting subject by the early eleventh century, when The Tale of Genji was written. From then on, the Tales of Ise has ranked with The Tale of Genji in its enormous, and multifaceted, influence on every field of Japanese culture and art.
2025 is the 1200th anniversary of Narihira’s birth. This exhibition celebrates the calligraphy, paintings, and craft arts that the Tales of Ise inspired. Focusing on waka, the heart of the Tales of Ise, we invite you to savor this poetry and consider the role that waka play in the Tales of Ise.
- Portrait of Ariwara no Narihira
- Japan Muromachi period,
16th century
Nezu Museum - Ariwara no Narihira, famed for his poetry, is counted among the Six Poetic Immortals. This portrait shows him wearing sokutai court dress and seated on a raised platform topped by tatami. With a brush in his right hand and paper in his left, he is depicted thinking of writing a waka poem. A similar but earlier portrait dates from the Nanbokuchō period (fourteenth century; private collection). This valuable portrait is the next to the oldest and is from the following, Muromachi, period.
- Tales of Ise Scroll (partial view)
-
Japan Kamakura period,
13th–14th centuries
Kuboso Memorial Museum of Arts, Izumi -
This colored picture scroll is the oldest example with the Tales of Ise as its subject. It depicts Episode 23, “Crossing Mount Tatsuta,” in which a woman, gently seeing her husband off to visit a new woman, composes a poem praying for his safety during his journey. The husband, profoundly moved by her poem, decides to end the affair. Here we see the wife concerned about her husband and the husband, having pretended to depart, waiting to see what will happen at home.
On exhibit: 11/1～11/16
-
Tales of Ise, Episode 50
By Tosa Mitsuoki -
Japan Edo period, 17th century
Private Collection - This painting depicts the scene in a waka that begins “More than writing on a flowing stream,” which the woman recites, addressing a couple’s mutual infidelity (Episode 50). The waka the man composed in return is inscribed on the painting, which expresses an unreal world of poetry, overlapping with its rendering. Tosa Mitsuoki (1617–91) created this elegant Yamato-e painting.
-
Inkstone Box with
”Eight Bridges” Design -
Japan Edo period, 17th century
Suntory Museum - The waka in the Episode ９, “Eight Bridges,”was composed with one of the syllables of ka-ki-tsu-ba-ta (irises) at the head of each of its 5-7-5-7-7 syllable lines. The design of this inkstone box evokes, with just the irises and bridges that connect to the poem, the sentiments in the tale and the poem itself. “Absence patterns” like this one that exclude the human figure in craft works have a deep relationship with uta-e poem-paintings.