The collection seems to have been compiled sometime between the 1120s and 1449, but it is believed that it came into existence sometime not long after the 1120s, during the regime of cloistered government by the Cloistered emperors Shirakawa and Toba, because there are no setsuwa against the backdrop of historical incidents such as the Hogen Disturbance, the Heiji Disturbance and the Jisho-Juei (civil war), which certainly would have been world-shaking, critical events for people living after the mid-twelfth century.
成立時期はこの1120年代～1449年の間ということになるが、保元の乱、平治の乱、治承・寿永の内乱など、12世紀半ば以降の年代に生きた人ならば驚天動地の重大事だったはずの歴史的事件を背景とする説話がいっさい収録されていないことから、上限の1120年代からあまり遠くない白河法皇・鳥羽法皇による院政期に成立したものと見られている。