Mono no aware was proposed by Norinaga MOTOORI, a scholar specialized in the Japanese classical literature who lived during the Edo period, in his treatise titled "Genji Monogatari Tama no Ogushi" (Jeweled Comb of The tale of Genji), in which he argued that mono no aware culminated in "Genji Monogatari" (The Tale of Genji).
江戸時代の国学者本居宣長が自著『源氏物語玉の小櫛』において提唱し、その頂点が『源氏物語』であるとした。