Her diary gave access to a woman's experience of a thousand years ago, with poems she recorded which vividly recall the past.

Due to her lesser nobility, she became a concubine at the age of nineteen and then married Fujiwara no Kaneie who was later promoted to Sesshō.

Both are highly prestigious groupings of Japanese poets, serving as sequels to Fujiwara no Kintō's original Thirty-Six Immortals covering the Nara and Early Heian Eras.

Michitsuna's Mother was also credited with expanding the potential of kana prose writing with the creation of a new form of psychological exploration and self-expression, becoming an influence for Lady Murasaki's highly popular Tale of Genji.

[4] A woman's marriage value depended on the social status of both her father and mother: women of suitable standing were rare and prized.