 ... Then, when I arrived at the poetry meeting itself on the 25th, the highest places on the one side were occupied by Reizei no Tamemasa and Tamekuni, and on the other side by the former shogunal deputy ... [who] was at that time a lay priest of more than 80 years ... After this occasion, I just kept going again and again to those meetings, and thus gained experience in poetic composition.I was fourteen years old at the time.Shōtetsu studied classical courtly poetry with Ryōshun, and other areas of literature, including of course famous works like "The Tales of Ise", "Essays in Idleness", and was even inducted into the secret traditions relating to the famed "Tale of Genji" and the"Shin Kokin Wakashū".