 In an analogous manner, Norinaga extolled the elegance and refinement (miyabiyaka) of the verses of Shin Kokinshū. This, he explained, was the consequence of its many poets’ ability to detach sufficiently from their individual circumstances so that through their artistry (waza) they could capture the essence of mono no aware in just thirty-one syllables. This appreciation of poetic sophistication also desanctified waka from the cosmological significance that Mabuchi had attached to the oldest Japanese verses.