I bought Volume I thinking that I'd see if I liked the book before I committed to the massive whole. I figured that if they sold it separately in multiple volumes, it's meant to be owned and read in chunks. It was sitting on my shelf for months until I had the time after I finished Tale of Genji, which I purchased at the same time. When I finally started into it, I was first confused then upset that these highly-touted explanatory notes were nowhere to be found!!! I can only assume they are provided at the end of the third and final volume, which isn't even available (new) by Amazon! And now I can't even return it because it's well after the return date has expired.