[8] Misu: a thin finely woven bamboo curtain, behind which one may see but not be seen, hung before great personages and women's apartments.
[9] Tonearasoi: at present not known.
[10] Imayo, or "new style," a kind of song in vogue in those days. The verse consists of eight or ten alternating seven-and five-syllable lines.
[11] This perfume was composed of purified Borneo camphor, aloe wood and musk, and was used to perfume clothing, etc.
[12] Hagi: violet-coloured dress with blue lining, the violet dye taken from sapan-wood; Shion: pale purple dress with blue lining.
[13] A face covering used while sleeping.
[14] Floss silk was used to protect chrysanthemum flowers from frost. The flower itself was believed to have the virtue of lengthening life. The Imperial garden party undoubtedly originated from a belief in this virtue in the flower.
[15] Ladies were crowded close behind the misu looking at the moon.
[16] Hangings, screens, and clothes of attendants were all white at the time of a birth.
[17] Which would otherwise have attacked the Queen. Some of the ladies-in-waiting undertook this duty. There is a difference of opinion between the translators as to whether this was done with the intention of deceiving the evil spirits into attacking the wrong person (by introducing into her neighbourhood other women surrounded with screens and attendants) or by transmitting the supposed evil spirits out of the Queen into her ladies by a sort of mesmerization.