In their comment on the Left’s poem, the Right use the expression asahanaretaru . There are no other examples of this term in the classical Japanese canon, and so we are reliant on Shunzei’s comment about its meaning. From what he says, however, it appears that it was relatively obscure, even to him.

Mount Miwa was a holy site, and using the term itsuwari (‘false’) in a poem referencing it was disrespectful to the deity, Miwa Myōjin 三輪明神.

This was a reference to eight well-known Chinese states or dynasties: the Jin (晋 – dynasty; 265-420); the Song (宋 – dynasty; 960-1279); Qi (斉 – a state 1046-221 BC); Liang (梁 – a state; -641 BC); the Sui (隋 – dynasty; 518-681); the Tang (唐 – dynasty; 618-907); the Zhou (周 – dynasty; 1029-256 BC); and Chen (陳 – a state; 1046-479 BC).

A reference to three well-known Chinese histories: the ‘Records of the Grand Historian’ (Shiji 史記; 109-91 BC;); the ‘Book of Han’ (Hàn Shū 漢書; 82 ); and the ‘Book of Later Han’ (Hòuhàn Shū 後漢書; 445).

The old Japanese usually took off their outer kimono at night, spread them out and slept beneath them. Lovers, of course, would sleep beneath a pile of both their clothes. Suetsune’s poem complains that he has no one to share his bed. ‘Vermillion’ was a colour restricted to courtiers holding the Fourth or Fifth ranks.

This is a reference to a Chinese poem by Sugawara no Michizane in the Wakan rōei shū – Shunzei is referring to the Chinese characters used to write the words arare (‘hail’) 霰 and tama (‘gemstone’) 玉 rather than the words themselves: 「麞牙米簸声々脆、竜頷玉投果々寒」. In Rimer and Chaves’ translation (1997, 120), the poem is:

The roebuck’s teeth, rice grains in a sieve,
every sound so crisp;
from dragon’s jaws, peals are tossed,
every kernel cold,

This poem is on the topic of ‘Hail’, even if the word, or character itself does no appear in it.

Both poems this round rely on wordplay, in that the name of the tree which I have been translatiing as ‘brushwood’ the shii 椎 (actually a Japanese chinquapin – an evergreen related to the beech and oak – which is probably best known outside of Japan – in name only – from shiitake 椎茸, a mushroom which grows on its dead wood), is homophonous with shii 四位 ‘Fourth Rank’. While reaching this level was an achievement – many nobles never got any higher than Fifth Rank – if one obtained it, and was not then promoted soon, it was an indication that one’s court career had gone about as far as it was going to go – hence the poets’ laments.

Jakuren is making reference to an anecdote from Minmoto no Shunrai’s Shunnrai Zuinō work of poetic criticism:

‘Once, when His Majesty, Emperor Tenchi was our hawking, he lost his falcon. His Falconer who, being of low estate, was unable to behold His Majesty directly and was looking at the ground, immediately told His Majesty where the bird could be found. Astonished, His Majesty asked the man how he had done it,. “By looking the puddles of water on the ground, and seeing the bird reflected there, Sire,” the man replied.’

‘Fields of grasses’ (kusa no hara) was an expression suggestive of a cremation ground, and so out of place in a seasonal poem of this type.

Fujiwara no Tadamichi