Book contents
- The Cambridge History of Japanese Literature
- The Cambridge History of Japanese Literature
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Contributors
- Book part
- A note on Romanization and conventions
- Glossary
- General introduction
- Part I The ancient period (beginnings to 794)
- 1 Introduction: writing, literacy, and the origins of Japanese literature
- 2 Myth and history in theKojiki, Nihon shoki, and related works
- 3 Songs of the Records and Chronicles
- 4 Fudoki gazetteers
- 5 Man’yōshū
- 6 Anthologization and Sino-Japanese literature:Kaifūsōand the three imperial anthologies
- Part II The Heian period (794–1185)
- Part III The medieval period (1185–1600)
- Part IV The Edo period (1600–1867)
- Part V The modern period (1868 to present)
- Bibliography of English secondary sources and translations
- Index
5 - Man’yōshū
from Part I - The ancient period (beginnings to 794)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 January 2016
Book contents
- The Cambridge History of Japanese Literature
- The Cambridge History of Japanese Literature
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Contributors
- Book part
- A note on Romanization and conventions
- Glossary
- General introduction
- Part I The ancient period (beginnings to 794)
- 1 Introduction: writing, literacy, and the origins of Japanese literature
- 2 Myth and history in theKojiki, Nihon shoki, and related works
- 3 Songs of the Records and Chronicles
- 4 Fudoki gazetteers
- 5 Man’yōshū
- 6 Anthologization and Sino-Japanese literature:Kaifūsōand the three imperial anthologies
- Part II The Heian period (794–1185)
- Part III The medieval period (1185–1600)
- Part IV The Edo period (1600–1867)
- Part V The modern period (1868 to present)
- Bibliography of English secondary sources and translations
- Index
Summary
Manyoshu is Japan's oldest extant anthology of vernacular verse and the most revered repository of its classical poetic tradition. Just as Kojiki and Nihon shoki were compiled with the aid of earlier histories that do not survive, Manyoshu drew material from numerous other lost Japanese anthologies that are cited in its pages. The anthology was compiled during the greatest period of social change in premodern Japanese history. Manyoshu begins with a courting verse for a maiden gathering herbs on a hillside; it was purported to have been composed by Emperor Yuryaku, who was remembered as an exemplar. From the accession in 629 of the ruler known as Emperor Jomei, attributions of authorship gain historical plausibility; the number of poems markedly increases. Jomei ascended the throne after the death of the female sovereign Suiko, the last ruler represented in the Kojiki. The characterization of Manyoshu as a text that was widely read through the centuries is a modern myth.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge History of Japanese Literature , pp. 50 - 85Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2015