The author starts the diary from her return to Heiankyo (the present-day Kyoto city) between September and October in 1020 with her father, who had been appointed as an officer at a kokufu in Kazusa Province (the present Chiba Prefecture) in Togoku (the eastern part of Japan, particularly Kanto region).
東国・上総国（現在の千葉県）の国府に任官していた父とともに寛仁4年9月平安京（現在の京都市）へ帰国するところから起筆。