noun
Konjaku Monogatarishū; Tales of Times Now Past
Abbreviation of 今昔物語集 (Konjaku Monogatarishū), a 31-volume collection of stories from the late Heian period. Used as a proper noun for the work itself.
今昔物語は、平安時代末期に成立した説話集です。
Konjaku Monogatari is a collection of tales compiled in the late Heian period.
Full title of the same work; 今昔物語 is the common abbreviation.
From 今昔 (konjaku, 'now and long ago') + 物語 (monogatari, 'tale'). The title reflects the collection's structure of stories from India, China, and Japan, each beginning with '今は昔' (ima wa mukashi, 'now is long ago').