Its scene was composed in a waka poem by the moaning toneris (servants) of Kusakabe's Court for his premature death which was left in volume 2 of "Manyo-shu" (the Japanese oldest collection of songs, entitled "A Collection of a Myriad Leaves").
その様子は「万葉集」に草壁皇子の早世を悲しんで春宮の舎人たちの詠んだ歌が『万葉集』巻二に残されている。