Ivy Lane, Scene from “Ise monogatari” (Tales of Ise) 

The motif of this work is episode nine from The Tales of Ise, which begins with “Mukashi, otoko arikeri” (Once a certain man*). The “man” is the main character of the tale, which contains many tanka poems, and he was modeled on Ariwara no Narihira, a poet known for his colorful love affairs. The man leaves Kyoto and enters Suruga Province (present-day Shizuoka Prefecture) on his way to the eastern part of the country and reaches the mountains of Utsu. As he ventures into a dark, narrow pass that is overgrown with ivy and maples, he comes across an ascetic he knew in Kyoto. He entrusts the ascetic with a letter to his beloved, whom he has left behind in Kyoto, and the letter contains the following tanka poem lamenting his frustration at not being able to meet her.

Beside Mount Utsu
in Suruga Province,
I can see you
neither when I am awake
nor, alas, even in my dreams.*

The scene of encountering the ascetic on a narrow overgrown pass is depicted in a long vertical composition.
(KASHIWAGI Tomoh)

* Translations from Tales of Ise: Lyrical Episodes from 10th Century Japan (translated by Helen Craig McCullough), Stanford University Press (1968)