‘Going to the mountains’ was a euphemism for taking holy orders and retiring from public life and, in fact, only thirteen days after presiding over this poetry competition, on the 23rd day of the Sixth Month 986, Kazan abdicated and took orders. Obviously, Sanekata was aware of the Emperor’s plans, and the poem is an attempt to remind him of all the beauty in the world which he would have to give up once he became a priest.