The Tales of Ise is a compilation of more than one hundred brief, lyrical episodes, written in the late ninth to early tenth centuries. The climax of each episode is one or more 31-syllable poem that encapsulates the mood. These poems are characterized by an appreciation of nature’s beauty and a melancholy awareness of the transience of life.

These screens present seventeen episodes, with a poem brushed onto the gold cloud above. There is no set order for “reading” the screens—the eye is supposed to wander at leisure, recognizing the scenes pictured and re-experiencing the emotions they evoke. The early seventeenth century saw a number of printed publications of the Tales of Ise, amid a continuing revival of interest in the forms of classical culture.