Description
A wicker backpack is shown sitting on a small mound covered in ivy. This is a reference to an episode in the 9th chapter of the Tales of Ise, a 10th-century collection of stories. The hero, Ariwara no Narihira (825-880) was exiled from Kyoto. While wandering through Japan with two companions, he met a traveling monk in the area of modern day Shizuoka. The monk was wearing a pack like the one depicted here and the road was covered with ivy. Narihira asked the monk to take a letter back to the capital for him. The episode is sometimes called the Narrow Ivy Way.
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