Exactly who Sanekata is referring to here is unclear, but the most likely candidate is thought to be Minamoto no Michikata 源道方, who was a Minor Councillor between the 30th day of the Eighth Month 990 and the 23rd day of the Tenth Month 998. His poem is somewhat pompous: containing a stock image for the palace kumo no uFe ‘above the clouds’, and the reference to the moon. Sanekata does a fine job of bringing him down to earth by saying the real reason he wants to leave is to see a woman. He uses the place name Fushimi, as it is homophonous with Fusi mi ‘lie down (with) and see (a woman)’. ‘Seeing’ a woman was a standard euphemism for having sexual relations with her.