This poem expresses her now miserable position, and the person to whom this poem is composed is said to be KIYOHARA no Motosuke, the Lord of Higo Province (908 - 990) according to a personal collection of poetry, or ONO no Yoshifuru (884 - 968), an envoy with the job of pursuit and capture in FUJIWARA no Sumitomo's War according to "Yamato Monogatari" (Tales of Yamato); furthermore, the body of the poem reads,
この歌は零落した身の上を詠んだものだが、歌を詠みかけた相手が、家集では肥後国守・清原元輔（908－990年）、『大和物語』では藤原純友の乱の追捕使・小野好古（884－968年）となっており、歌の本文も、