The tanka form, in which these short lyrics on nature were composed, is that of traditional Japanese poetry. In classical Japanese, the expression meaning 'leaves',
kotonoha
, is a homonym for 'words'. Both are also written identically, in Kanji characters which join 'say' with 'leaf/leaves'.
Kotonoha
can also refer to
waka
, the pre-modern designation for tanka poems.