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.