Chinese tradition had it that one could discover written characters if one looked closely enough at the tracks of birds. Here, this is a reference to the letters the man has sent.

The original here is mitu （見つ）and this is what the man nicknames Ise. The implication here is that when he used to write to her she would at least say she had seen his letters, but now she will not even say that.

Euphemistically, ‘with whom she had occasionally exchanged love letters and had an affair.’

The commentators identify this correspondent of Ise’s as Taira no Sadafun ( -923).

Tajima （但馬） was a province to the west of the capital, located in the northern part of modern Hyôgo Prefecture.

Tachibana or Minamoto no Toshisuke （敏相）(dates unknown).

This is a euphemistic reference to the events of 901, when Sugawara no Michizane （菅原道真） (845-903) was falsely accused of disloyalty to the throne by Fujiwara no Tokihira, stripped of his position as Minister of the Right and sent into exile as Governor General of the Dazaifu in Kyushu.