Manyoshu (万葉集 Man'yōshū, "Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves") is the oldest existing, and most highly revered, collection of Japanese poetry, compiled sometime in the Nara or early Heian periods. The compiler, or the final in a series of compilers, is believed to be Otomo no Yakamochi, and the last datable poem in the collection is from 759. The collection contains many poems from much earlier, many of them anonymous or misattributed (usually to well-known poets), but the bulk of the collection represents the period between 600 and 759. The collection is divided into twenty parts or books, mirroring a similar practice in collections of Chinese poems of the time; this number was followed in most later collections. Unlike later collections, however, the parts of the Man'yōshū are not organised into topics or ordered chronologically. The collection contains 265 chōka (long poems), 4,207 tanka (short poems), one tanrenga (short connecting poem), 1 bussokusekika (poems on the Buddha's footprints at Yakushi temple in Nara), four kanshi (Chinese poems), and 22 Chinese prose passages. There is no preface: the format of prefacing official collections, such as the Kokinshū, developed later. Grave of the Japanese poet Yosa Buson The best-known forms of Japanese poetry (outside Japan) are haiku and senryu. ... The Nara period (奈良時代) of the History of Japan covers the years from about AD 710 to 794. ... The Heian period (Japanese: 平安時代, Heian-jidai) is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. ... Ōtomo no Yakamochi (大伴家持 c. ... Events The Franks capture Narbonne; the Saracens are completely driven out of Japanese poet Otomo no Yakamochi compiled the first Japanese poetry anthology Manyoshu. ... For other uses, see number 600. ... Events The Franks capture Narbonne; the Saracens are completely driven out of Japanese poet Otomo no Yakamochi compiled the first Japanese poetry anthology Manyoshu. ... See Waka (disambiguation) for other usages. ... See Waka (disambiguation) for other usages. ... Jump to: navigation, search Yakushi-ji Yakushi-ji (薬師寺) is an ancient Buddhist temple of the Hosso sect in the city of Nara, Nara Prefecture, Japan. ... Nara (Japanese: 奈良市, Nara-shi) is the capital city of Nara Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan, near Kyoto. ... Kokin (waka)shu (古今(和歌)集 kokin (waka)shū, collection of ancient and modern poems) is an early Heian waka anthology, conceived by Emperor Uda (r. ...

It is standard to regard the Man'yōshū as a particularly Japanese work. This does not mean that the poems and passages of the collection differed starkly from the scholarly standard (in Yakamochi's time) of Chinese literature and poetics. Certainly many entries of the Man'yōshū have a continental tone, earlier poems having Confucian or Taoist themes and later poems reflecting on Buddhist teachings. Yet, the Man'yōshū is singular, even in comparison with later works, in choosing primarily Yamato themes, extolling Shintō virtues of forthrightness (真 makoto) and virility (丈夫振り masuraoburi). In addition, the language of many entries of the Man'yōshū exerts a powerful sentimental appeal to readers: Confucianism (Chinese: 儒家, Pinyin Rújiā, The School of the Scholars; or, less accurately, 孔教 Kŏng jiào, The Religion of Confucius) is an East Asian ethical and philosophical system originally developed from the teachings of the early Chinese sage Confucius. ... The Yin-Yang or Taiji diagram, often used as a symbol in Taoism. ... A replica of an ancient statue found among the ruins of a temple at Sarnath Buddhism is a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of the Buddha, Siddhārtha Gautama, a prince of the Shakyas, whose lifetime is traditionally given as 566 to 486 BCE. Buddhism gradually spread from... History of Japan Paleolithic Jomon Yayoi Yamato period ---Kofun period ---Asuka period Nara period Heian period Kamakura period Muromachi period Azuchi-Momoyama period ---Nanban period Edo period Meiji period Taisho period Showa period ---Japanese expansionism ---Occupied Japan ---Post-Occupation Japan Heisei The Yamato period (大和) (better known as the Kofun... Jump to: navigation, search A torii at Itsukushima Shrine Shinto (神道 Shintō) (sometimes called Shintoism) is a native religion of Japan and was once its state religion. ...

[T]his early collection has something of the freshness of dawn. [...] There are irregularities not tolerated later, such as hypometric lines; there are evocative place names and [pillow words (枕詞 makurakotoba)]; and there are evocative exclamations such as kamo, whose appeal is genuine even if incommunicable. In other words, the collection contains the appeal of an art at its pristine source with a romantic sense of venerable age and therefore of an ideal order since lost [2; page 192].

The collection is customarily divided into four periods. The earliest dates to prehistoric or legendary pasts, from the time of Yuryaku (r.?456–?479) to those of the little documented Yōmei (r.585–587), Saimei (r.594–661), and finally Tenji (r.668–671) during the Taika Reforms and the time of Fujiwara no Kamatari (614–669). The second period covers the end of the seventh century, coinciding with the popularity of Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, one of Japan's greatest poets. The third period spans 700–c.730 and covers the works of such poets as Yamabe no Akahito, Otomo no Tabito, Yamanoue no Okura, and Abe no Nakamaro. Akahito chiefly among them is resolutely Japanese; the rest freely incorporate and adapt Continental elements. The fourth period spans 730–760 and includes the work of the last great poet of this collection, the compiler Otomo no Yakamochi himself, who not only wrote many original poems but also edited, updated and refashioned an unknown number of ancient poems. Emperor YÅ«ryaku (雄略天皇 YÅ«rayku Tennō, c. ... Events Emperor Marcian quells disturbances on the Armenian frontier. ... Events End of the Song Dynasty and beginning of the Qi Dynasty in southern China. ... Emperor Yōmei Emperor Yōmei (用明天皇 Yōmei Tennnō) (died 587) was the 31st imperial ruler of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. ... Events Famine in Gaul. ... Events End of the Nan Liang Dynasty in China. ... Empress Kōgyoku (皇極天皇) or Saimei (斉明天皇) (594–661) was the 35th imperial ruler of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. ... Events Births Empress Kogyoku of Japan = Empress Saimei Deaths Gregory of Tours, bishop and historian Categories: 594 ... Events Caliph Ali Ben Abu Talib is assassinated. ... Tenji Emperor (From Ogura Hyakunin Isshu) Tomb of Emperor Tenji, Kyoto Emperor Tenji (天智天皇) (626-672), also known as Tenchi, was the 38th imperial ruler of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. ... Events Childeric II succeeds Clotaire III as Frankish king Constantine IV becomes Byzantine Emperor, succeeding Constans II Theodore of Tarsus made archbishop of Canterbury. ... Events Chinese Buddhist pilgrim I-Ching visited the capital of the partly-Buddhist kingdom of Srivijaya, Palembang, Indonesia. ... ... Fujiwara no Kamatari (藤原鎌足, 614–669 A.D.) was the founder of the Fujiwara clan in Japan. ... Events The Persian Empire under general Shahrbaraz captures and sacks Jerusalem; the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is damaged by fire and the True Cross is captured. ... Events Theodore appointed Archibishop of Canterbury Births Justinian II, Byzantine emperor Deaths Hasan ibn Ali, grandson of Muhammad and second Shia Imam Categories: 669 ... Kakinomoto no Hitomaro (from Ogura Hyakunin Isshu) Kakinomoto no Hitomaro (柿本 人麻呂; c. ... // Events Saint Adamnan convinces 51 kings to adopt Cáin Adomnáin defining the relationship between women and priests. ... Events Emperor Leo III of the Byzantine Empire orders the destruction of all icons. ... Yamabe no Akahito (700 - 40) was a poet of Yamato period in Japan. ... Otomo no Tabito (大伴旅人 Otomo no Tabito; ) was a Japanese poet of an old time, best known as the father of Otomo no Yakamochi, who contributed to compiling Manyoshu alongside the father. ... Yamanoue no Okura (山上 憶良; Yamanoue no Okura; 669 - 733) was a Japanese poet, the best known for his poems of child and commoners. ... Abe no Nakamaro (阿倍仲麻呂, abe(no) nakamaro, c. ... Events Emperor Leo III of the Byzantine Empire orders the destruction of all icons. ... Events Maya civilization city of Dos Pilas is abandoned. ... Ōtomo no Yakamochi (大伴家持 c. ...

In addition to its artistic merits, the Man'yōshū is important for using one of the earliest Japanese writing systems, the cumbersome man'yōgana. Though it wasn't the first use of this writing system, which was either invented for the Kojiki or adapted from early Korean writing systems based on Chinese characters, it was influential enough to give the writing system its name: "the characters of the Man'yōshū". This system uses Chinese characters in a variety of functions: their usual ideographic or logographic senses; to represent Japanese syllables phonetically; and sometimes in a combination of these functions. The use of Chinese characters to represent Japanese syllables was in fact the genesis of the modern syllabic kana writing systems, being simplified forms (hiragana) or fragments (katakana) of the man'yōgana. Manyōgana (万葉仮名) is an ancient form of Japanese kana based on kanji (Chinese characters). ... Kojiki or Furukotofumi (古事記) is the oldest known historical book about the ancient history of Japan. ... A Chinese character. ... A Chinese logogram A logogram, or logograph, is a single written character which represents a word or a morpheme (a meaningful unit of language). ... Japanese writing Kanji 漢字 Kana 仮名 Hiragana 平仮名 Katakana 片仮名 Uses Furigana 振り仮名 Okurigana 送り仮名 Romaji ローマ字 For other meanings of Kana, see Kana (disambiguation). ... Japanese writing Kanji 漢字 Kana 仮名 Hiragana 平仮名 Katakana 片仮名 Uses Furigana 振り仮名 Okurigana 送り仮名 Romaji ローマ字 Category Hiragana (平仮名 literally smooth kana) are a Japanese syllabary, one of four Japanese writing systems (the others are katakana, kanji and rōmaji). ... Japanese writing Kanji 漢字 Kana 仮名 Hiragana 平仮名 Katakana 片仮名 Uses Furigana 振り仮名 Okurigana 送り仮名 Romaji ローマ字 Category Katakana (片仮名) are a Japanese syllabary, one of the four Japanese writing systems. ...

References

1. Online edition of the Man'yōshū at the UVa Library Japanese Text Initiative.
2. E. Miner, H. Odagiri and R. E. Morell, The Princeton Companion to Classical Japanese Literature, Princeton University Press, 1985, ISBN 0691065993.
3. H. H. Honda (tr.), The Man'yoshu: a new and complete translation. Hokuseido Press, Tokyo, 1967.