The lady is engaging in a familiar wordplay here as the place name Nakoso 勿來, the location of one of the barriers between Michinoku and the capital, was homophonous with na ko so な來そ, meaning ‘Come not!’

Kintō is quoting SIS XV: 984 here, and Sanekata’s offering should be read as a reply to it.

Probably a reference to Fujiwara no Kintō 藤原公任 (966-1041).

Prince Okisada 居貞, the future Emperor Sanjō 三条 (976-1017; r. 1011-1016).

A cloud, of course, has no fixed abode in the sky, and by comparing himself to one, Sanekata is telling the lady he has no definite residence, and hence no formal wife, as custom had it that men lived in the home of their principal wife.

Sanekata was appointed to the post of Governor of Michinoku on the thirteenth day of the First Month 995, but did not leave the capital to take up his duties until twenty-seventh day of the Ninth Month. The bow from Kazan was a farewell gift, and he was obviously expecting Sanekata to be leaving soon after receiving it.

A reference to the Gosechi festival, in that the cords used to bind one’s hair for the occasion were known as hikage no kami 日蔭の髪. ‘sunlight hair’.

Gosechi was an alternative term used to refer to the New Rice Festival (niinamesai 新嘗祭), a court event where the emperor made the first offering of that year’s new rice to the gods. It took place over four days in the middle of the Eleventh Month (approximately the beginning of January) every year.

Michinaga is quoting a well known poem (SIS VIII: 470),

Most likely to have been Fujiwara no Michinaga 藤原道長 at this time.