On the obverses of the yomi-fuda are written the tanka with the poets' names and portraits; the portraits are drawn in the Yamato-e painting style (a traditional painting style developed since the Heian period) based on the portraits in Kasen Emaki (picture scroll of portraits of outstanding poets); on the obverses of the tori-fuda are written only shimo-no-ku (the forth phrase and the fifth phrase of the five phrases of one tanka) in hiragana character.
読み札の表面には大和絵ふうの歌人の肖像（これは歌仙絵巻などの意匠によるもの）と作者の名、和歌が記されており、取り札にはすべて仮名(文字)書きで下の句だけが書かれている。