The kagaku of the Meiji period and thereafter was focused on studying ancient waka and old waka anthologies rather than on karon itself; as a result, remarkable progress has been made in research on the Manyoshu and the Kokin wakashu, in study of the history of waka and of karon, and in the bibliographic study of old waka anthologies.
明治以降の歌学は、歌論よりも古歌・古歌集の研究に重点がおかれ、万葉集・古今和歌集の研究や和歌史・歌論史及び古歌集の書誌学的研究などが目覚しい発展を遂げた。