The poem alludes to the latter half of the Juyi BAI's "The Song of Everlasting Sorrow," and it is also the response to the waka poem which was composed by Genji's father, Emperor Kiritsubo, when he remembered the late Kiritsubo no Koi (lower class court lady) in the first chapter of 'Kiritsubo' (The Paulownia Court).
白居易『長恨歌』の後半をモチーフとしており、また第1帖「桐壺」で源氏の父桐壺帝が亡き桐壺更衣を偲んで詠んだ和歌と呼応するものとなっている。