Kireji in translations of such verses into this language, kireji may be represented by punctuation (typically by a dash or an ellipsis), an exclamatory particle (such as 'how...'), or simply left unmarked. The examples below are laid out as follows: Kireji Classical renga developed a tradition of 18 kireji, which were adopted by haikai, thence used for both renku and haiku, the most common of which are listed below: Hokku and haiku consist of 17 Japanese syllables, or on (a phonetic unit identical to the mora), in three metrical phrases of 5, 7, and 5 on respectively. A kireji is typically
Japanese poetry even today in the "haiku" tradition. The Japanese preface by Ki no Tsurayuki is also the beginning of Japanese criticism as distinct from the far more prevalent Chinese poetics in the literary circles of its day. (The anthology also included a traditional Chinese preface authored by Ki no Tomonori.) The idea of including old as well as new poems was another important innovation, one which was widely adopted in later works, both in prose and verse. The poems of the "Kokin Wakashū" were ordered temporally; the love poems, for instance, depict the progression and fluctuations of a courtly love-affair. This