However, Michinaga seemed to have favored Chinese poetry over waka (Japanese) poetry (incidentally, it is said that he did not particularly like his famous poem, 'This world,' because it was composed on the spot, and therefore, it does not appear in "Diary of Mido-Kanpaku," but it is passed down in "Ouki/Shoyuki" by his political enemy, FUJIWARA no Sanesuke).
もっとも道長本人は和歌より漢詩の方を得手としていたようである（ちなみに有名な「この世をば」の歌は本人も即興で作った歌であったために気に入らなかったとされ『御堂関白記』などには記載されておらず、政敵・藤原実資の『小右記』に伝えられている）。