atsura no miya monogatari ("The Tale of Matsura," ca. 1190) is a classicalJapanese tale or romance that belongs to the same category of courtly fiction asMurasaki Shikibu's unsurpassed masterpiece, Genji monogatari ("The Tale ofGenji," ca. 1010). When compared with most of the best-known works of itsgenre, however, Matsura no miya monogatari stands o…