[6] Yōzei's mother was the sister of Fujiwara no Mototsune, who would figure prominently in the young emperor's life.

His famous waka expressed his growing love by superimposing the image of the flow of the river.

According to very scanty information from the Imperial archives, including sources such as Rikkokushi, and Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku, Emperor Yōzei murdered one of his retainers, an action that caused massive scandal in the Heian court.

Deaths (especially killing animals or people) were the worst acts of pollution possible, and warranted days of seclusion in order to purify oneself.

In the end, when Fujiwara no Mototsune, who was Sesshō (regent for the child-emperor, 876–880), Kampaku (chief advisor or first secretary for the emperor, 880–890), and Daijō Daijin (Great Minister of the Council of State), decided that Yōzei should be removed from the throne, he discovered that there was general agreement amongst the kuge that this was a correct and necessary decision.

[16] Kugyō (公卿) is a collective term for the very few most powerful men attached to the court of the Emperor of Japan in pre-Meiji eras.