The story situated during the Sengoku period (period of warring states) with two women who were mourning for young warriors that died in battle happened to meet each other, and its gazoku-setchu style, i.e. the mixture of dialogue in common language and narrative in elegant literary style received favorable reviews as the symbol of new style of contemporary literature, so Koyo suddenly became famous as a popular writer.
戦国時代に材をとり、戦で死んだ若武者を弔う二人の女性の邂逅というストーリーと、会話を口語体にしながら、地の文は流麗な文語文という雅俗折衷の文体とが、当時の新しい文学のあらわれとして好評を博し、紅葉は一躍流行作家として世間に迎えられた。