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Man'yōshū

Oldest extant collection of Japanese waka poetry.

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The Man'yōshū is the oldest surviving collection of Japanese waka poetry, compiled after 759 during the Nara period.[1] The Man'yōshū includes more than 4,500 waka poems spread across 20 volumes, and over 2,100 of these poems have no known author.[2][3] This collection is considered one of Japan's most highly regarded poetic anthologies.[4]

Quick Facts

Number of poems
more than 4,500
Volumes
20
Genres
  • Zoka
  • Somonka
  • Banka
Language
Classical Japanese (Western Old Japanese, with Eastern dialect poems)

Facts from the source article.

Making and release

The chronologically last datable poem is from 759, but many poems come from earlier periods, with most composed between 600 and 759.[4] The poems are divided into three genres: Zoka (songs for banquets and trips), Somonka (love songs), and Banka (mourning songs).[2] Poets ranged from emperors and aristocrats to soldiers, peasants, and street performers.[2] The compilation preserves names of earlier poetic collections, including the Ruijū Karin and several Kokashū.[5][6]

It also records at least four family anthologies belonging to Hitomaro, Kanamura, Mushimaro, and Sakimaro.[5][6] The vast majority of poems were composed over roughly a century, with scholars assigning major poets to four periods.[7] Princess Nukata represents the first period (645–672), while Kakinomoto no Hitomaro dominates the second (673–701).[7] The third period (702–729) includes poets like Yamabe no Akahito and Takahashi no Mushimaro.[7]

Most scholars today think Ōtomo no Yakamochi was the final compiler, but many alternative theories have been suggested.[4]

What the cited sources add

The Man'yōshū uses the earliest Japanese writing system, man'yōgana, which employs Chinese characters logographically and phonetically.[8] This system eventually led to the creation of hiragana and katakana.[9] A 1940 English translation by Japanese scholars was accepted into UNESCO's Japanese Translation Series.[10] Alexander Vovin published a translation with commentaries starting in 2009, completing ten volumes before his death in 2022.[11]

Three excavated mokkan (wooden slips) contain text from the Man'yōshū, including one from Kizugawa with poem 2205.[12] More than 150 plant species are mentioned in about 1,500 entries, and the first Man'yō botanical garden opened at Kasuga Shrine in 1932.[13] The majority of the Man'yōshū is composed in Western Old Japanese, yet volumes 14 and 20 together feature more than 300 poems from the Azuma provinces in eastern Japan.[14]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Man'yōshū" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Videen, "Heichū Monogatari in Literary History", Harvard University Asia Center, 1989-10-26 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Man'yōshū" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Richard, "Review of The Ten Thousand Leaves. A Translation of the Man'yoshu, Japan's Premier Anthology of Classical Poetry. Volume One.; From the Country of Eight Islands. An Anthology of Japanese Poetry.; The Zen Poems (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Man'yōshū" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ; (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Man'yōshū" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Satake (2004: 555); Shirane, "Traditional Japanese Literature: An Anthology, Beginnings to 1600, Abridged Edition", Columbia University Press, 2012-09-25 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Man'yōshū" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Man'yōshū • . A History . . of Japan . 日本歴史", . A History . . of Japan . 日本歴史 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  6. "Man'yōshū • . A History . . of Japan . 日本歴史", . A History . . of Japan . 日本歴史. facts only, no text reused. historyofjapan.co.uk
  7. Wikipedia, "Man'yōshū" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Keene 1999, p. 92–102; Keene 1999, p. 92–102; Keene 1999, p. 92–102; Keene 1999, p. 92–102; Keene 1999, p. 92–102; Keene 1999, p. 92–102; Keene 1999, p. 92–102; Keene 1999, p. 92–102; Keene 1999, p. 92–102; Keene 1999, p. 92–102; Keene 1999, p. 92–102; Keene 1999, p. 92–102; Keene 1999, p. 92–102 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Man'yōshū" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "A History of Japanese Literature: From the Manyoshu to Modern Times", Routledge, 15 April 2013, p. 24; Peter Nosco, "Remembering Paradise: Nativism and Nostalgia in Eighteenth-century Japan", Harvard Univ Asia Center, 1990, p. 182; Bjarke Frellesvig, "A History of the Japanese Language", Cambridge University Press, 29 July 2010, p. 14 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Man'yōshū" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Peter T. Daniels, "The World's Writing Systems", Oxford University Press, 1996, p. 212 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Man'yōshū" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkōkai, p. ii. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  11. Wikipedia, "Man'yōshū" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Vovin, "Man'yōshū (Book 15)", BRILL, 2009-08-01 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  12. Wikipedia, "Man'yōshū" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Piggott, "Mokkan: Wooden Documents from the Nara Period", Monumenta Nipponica, Winter 1990, p. 449–450; "７世紀の木簡に万葉の歌 奈良・石神遺跡、６０年更新", Asahi, 2008-10-17; "万葉集：３例目、万葉歌木簡 編さん期と一致－－京都の遺跡・８世紀後半", Mainichi, May 2016; "万葉集：万葉歌、最古の木簡 ７世紀後半－－奈良・石神遺跡", Mainichi, 2008-10-18; "万葉集：和歌刻んだ最古の木簡出土 奈良・明日香", Asahi, May 2016 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  13. Wikipedia, "Man'yōshū" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Manyo Shokubutsu-en(萬葉集に詠まれた植物を植栽する植物園)", Kasuga Shrine; "Man'yō Botanical garden(萬葉植物園)", Kasuga Shrine (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  14. Wikipedia, "Man'yōshū" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Uemura 1981:25–26. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Man'yōshū (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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