Ima Monotagari (Present-Day Tales) (今物語)
"The Ima Monogatari" is a collection of narratives which was compiled in the Kamakura period. It consists of a single volume which includes 53 stories. It may have appeared in 1239 or later. It is said to be compiled by FUJIWARA no Nobuzane (c. 1177 - 1265), who was well known as a painter and a poet.
As the title of the book suggests, it is a collection of often told tales during that era. It covers the period when Emperor Toba was in power through to the early Kamakura period. The stories are generally written in the uta-monogatari (short tales centered around poems) style with simple but elegant Japanese, and contains various subjects such as romance of noblemen of the Imperial Court and their graceful exchange of words, stories of failure, and comedy.
An annotated edition is available from Kodansha Gakujutsu Bunko (Academic Library, Kodansha Ltd.).