Taira no Tadasada 平忠貞 (Junior Fifth Rank, Upper Grade). He was first appointed Assistant Director of the Bureau of the Palace Kitchen, and then made a Chamberlain in 1011. He was most likely appointed to the post of Governor of Inaba 因幡, a coastal province north-west of the capital region, around the beginning of 1012.

This is quite an interesting remark by the Provisional Minor Captain (probably Fujiwara no Michitsuna 藤原道綱) , as utatane no Fasi, here translated as ‘the Bridge of Fitful Sleep’, is the title of a section in the Makura no Sôshi (‘The Pillow Book’), written by Sei Shônagon, who is known to have been intimate with Sanekata. It suggests that at least some sections of the work were already in circulation at court by this time.

Probably the bridge at Uji, famous for its guardian goddess, and a site where Sanekata has previously mentioned dozing, in a similar poetic exchange (Sanekata Shū 57).

Natubiki no ito 夏引の糸, which I have translated here as ‘Spun in summer/A silken thread’ was thread drawn from the cocoons of the harugo 春蚕 silkworm, which was ready for harvesting at the beginning of summer. Sanekata’s reasons for mentioning it are twofold: first, for the connotations of silk cloth and, by association, the light summer clothes the lady will have just changed into; and second, so he can engage in wordplay with the ito element, making it part of ito ni Fa arazu ‘not terribly (unwell)’ . The lady in her reply reuses natubiki no ito, but in this case she refers to the seeming endless thread of silk drawn from a cocoon as a metaphor for the extent of her concern for Sanekata.

The first day of the Fourth Month (approximately mid-May by our calendar) was the official start of Summer, and the date on which the court changed from warm winter clothing to light and cool summer garb.

Sanekata’s uncle, Fujiwara no Naritoki (the Major Captain), was noted for his skills on the koto.

This is probably a reference to Fujiwara no Kintō (藤原公任), who is known to have been present at the ceremony in question, but could also be Fujiwara no Michitsuna (藤原道綱).

The Obutsymyō (御仏名) ceremony was a court rite carried out from the nineteenth to the twenty-second day of the Twelfth Month every year. Before a screen depicting the horrors of Hell, priests would chant the name of the Buddha in a plea for the court to be pardoned for the sins they had committed during the past year. Part of the decorations for this ceremony were artificial flowers made from wood shavings (kezuribana 削り花), and it is one of these that Sanekata has obtained.

Kazan left the throne on the 23^nd Day of the Sixth Month 986.

The festival of Tanabata, when the the celestial lovers, the Herd Boy and the Weaver Maid, met for their annual tryst.