Murasaki Shikibu's The Diary of Lady Murasaki, translated by Richard Bowring in 1996, primarily deals with the birth of two sons to the empress between the fall of 1008 and the beginning of 1010.

Sei Seishonagon's The Pillow Book, written around 1000 A.D., is a series of jottings and essays that chronicles life in the Heian court. Characterized by the author's extreme wit, the book was translated into English by Ivan Morris in 1971.

The Ten Thousand Leaves, the first great anthology of Japanese poetry, was written in the first half of the eighth century and translated into English by Ian Hideo Levy in 1981. It represents the best surviving example of a native Japanese literary tradition.

Tales of a Time That is Now, a collection of more than 1,000 Buddhist and secular tales from India, China, and Japan, appeared around 1120. It is particularly notable for its rich descriptions of the lives of the nobility and common people in the Japanese society of that time.

Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, from an unknown author in the early 10th century, is considered the ancestor of all romances. It is the story of the exquisitely beautiful Kaguya-hime, who was born inside a bamboo stalk.

Chinese poet Po-Chu-I's classic poem The Song of Unending Sorrow was much admired in Heian Japan. It tells of Emperor Hsuan Tsung' s love for the beautiful Yang Kuei-fei.