The , also called the or the , is a Japanese

uta monogatari is a literary subgenre of the ''monogatari''. It is characterized by an emphasis on '' waka'' poetry, with prose sections interspersed. While most other ''monogatari'' of the Heian period and later contain ''waka'', the ''uta monogatari'' featu ...

that was written any time between the mid-

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...

to the early-

Kamakura period The is a period of History of Japan, Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the G ...

. It is in one volume and consists of two distinct sections. The first section describes a young

Ono no Takamura , also known as , was a Japanese calligrapher and poet of the early Heian period. Life Takamura was a descendant of Ono no Imoko who served as Kenzuishi, and his father was Ono no Minemori. He was the grandfather of Ono no Michikaze, one of t ...

's tragic love affair with his half-sister. The second section is taken to be by a different author, and is dated somewhat later than the first. Both authors are unknown, and the poems attributed in the tale to Takamura are treated as dubious at best.

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