Tales of Heichū (Heichū monogatari) belongs to the genre of uta monogatari poem tales that emerged in Japanese literature from the mid 10th to the early 11th centuries. As early as the Collection of Ten-Thousand Leaves (Manyōshū), a poetry collection completed around 759, there appeared poems introduced by brief prose narrations. The imperial court began to come alive with poetry from around this time. People exchanged poetry with one another on topics as diverse as love and politics and religion. Towards the end of the 9th century it was common for individual poets to keep compilations of their own verse, sometimes explaining in prose the circumstances behind a poem's composition. The highest honor was to have ones poem selected for inclusion in the Collection of Ancient and Modern Poetry