‘Flowing haze’ (流霞; ryūka) was a special type of sake, said to have been drunk by sages. In waka poetry, references to kasumi no iro (‘the colour of haze’) were conventionally assumed to refer to a pale blue shade – the purported colour of this sake. Shunzei’s complaint is that Suetsune is being overly clever in his poem, and ending up confusing his audience.