Since around the period of the Northern and Southern Courts (Japan), waka came to be composed mainly by monks and samurai, while the composition of waka spread to local samurai, and some of the waka that lapsed into formalism declined.
南北朝時代(日本)ごろから、和歌は僧侶や武士を中心に詠まれるようになるが、地方武士にも普及する一方で、形式主義に流れた和歌は衰退していった。