The poem referred to is not the famous Lute Girl’s Song, but a much shorter one (Works x. 8) on a similar theme. O-chou is the modern Wu-ch‘ang in Hupeh.

In the song the lady says: ‘The door is not bolted or barred. Come quickly and talk to me. Am I another’s bride, that you should be so careful and shy?’

The rank of Empress was often not conferred till quite late in a reign. It was of course Fujitsubo whom the Emperor chose in this case.

And therefore debarred from taking part in political life.

A famous poem by Ōye no Chisato (ninth century): ‘What so lovely as a night when the moon though dimly clouded is never wholly lost to sight.’

Kōkiden’s brothers.

He had no right to such a costume; for though a son of the Emperor, he had been affiliated to the Minamoto clan and no longer counted as a member of the Imperial family.

Korea.

We learn in Chapter XXXIV that he was made Commander of the Bodyguard at the age of twenty-one. He is now twenty-two.