The Ocho monogatari genre started with "Taketori Monogatari" (The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter), "Hakoya no toji" and "Karamori," but it reached its peak with "Genji Monogatari" (The Tale of Genji); these works, which formed the mainstream of this genre, were followed by works ranging from a succession of inferior imitations of The Tale of Genji to the Medieval tales, and this genre boasts the highest number of works of any genre.
『竹取物語』『はこやのとじ』『からもり』などを嚆矢として、『源氏物語』によって頂点を迎え、これにつづく一群源氏亜流物語、さらに中世期物語にいたるまで、王朝物語の主流を成し、もっとも多くの作品数を誇る分野である。