However, "Yamato Monogatari" (Tales of Yamato) and "Utsuho Monogatari" (The Tale of the Cavern) completed in the tenth century, and "Eiga Monogatari" (A Tale of Flowering Fortunes) and "Sagoromo Monogatari" (The Tale of Sagoromo) in the eleventh century refer to "Taketori Monogatari," and moreover a chapter of 'A Picture Contest' in "Genji Monogatari" (The Tale of Genji) says, 'Taketori no Okina, a founder of the tale,' which suggests that the tale was completed at least by the mid-tenth century.
しかし、10世紀の『大和物語』、『うつほ物語』や11世紀の『栄花物語』、『狭衣物語』などに『竹取物語』への言及が見られ、また『源氏物語』「絵合」巻に「物語の出で来はじめの祖なる竹取の翁」とあることから、遅くとも10世紀半ばまでに成立したと考えられている。