is a collection of tales and waka

Waka (poetry)

Waka or Yamato uta is a genre of classical Japanese verse and one of the major genres of Japanese literature...

 poetry from the Heian period

Heian period

The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. The period is named after the capital city of Heian-kyō, or modern Kyōto. It is the period in Japanese history when Buddhism, Taoism and other Chinese influences were at their height...

 of Japan. The exact date of the completion of the text is unknown, but it majority of the text was completed in the year 951

951

Year 951 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar.- Europe :* The king of Italy dies and his widow, Adelaide of Italy, is overthrown by an usurper, Berengar of Ivrea.- Asia :...

 by an unknown author. The title of the work roughly means the "Tale of Yamato" in English.

Content

Ise Monogatari had a strong influence on the composition of Yamato Monogatari, one that can be seen in the fact that some of the same tales appear in both works. The appearance of many historical figures and the nonexistence of a single main character are characteristics of this text.