ABSTRACT
A few generalizations can be made about the entire body of traditional Japanese literature before a few works are selected for the ideas they contain.
Long works are rare, Murasaki Shikibu’s The Tale of Genji being the obvious exception. The preference in poetry was for short verses like tanka (31 syllables) and haiku (17 syllables) expressive of compressed observation and emotional reactions. Obviously the taste for an abbreviated idiom leaves no room for discursive thought.
