The change in people's interest was reflected in waka poems, and "Manyoshu" (Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves) contains 40 waka poems for cherry blossoms and approximately 100 waka poems for plum blossoms, however, those numbers were reversed in "Kokin Wakashu" (A Collection of Ancient and Modern Japanese Poetry) of Heian period.
その存在感の移り変わりは歌にも現れており『万葉集』において桜を詠んだ歌は40首、梅を詠んだ歌は100首程度だが、平安時代の『古今和歌集』ではその数が逆転する。