Man’yōshū vs. Kokinshū Impact on Traditional and Contemporary Japanese Writings

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Man'yōshū and Kokinshū are two of the most important anthologies in Japan. Both of them have had great impacts on traditional Japanese poems, as well as contemporary writings. Although both of Man'yōshū and Kokinshū are extant collections of Japanese poetry, they are very different in various aspects. Differences in their forms, techniques, contents, expressions and aesthetic principles are possibly due to the time of completion. By comparing the aforementioned aspects in Man'yōshū and Kokinshū, distinct characteristics of each of them will be ultimately explained and revealed.

Man'yōshū is the earliest collection of Japanese poetry completed in 759. The genre has a total of 20 books and it contains 4,516 waka poems. Prior of examining its distinguished traits, it is necessary to note that Japan had stopped sending missionaries to Tang Dynasty of China in 835. Therefore, it is understandable that Man'yōshū had been greatly influenced by Chinese literal writing styles. Japanese natives considered Man'yōshū is a “literature of their own” (Japanese knowledge). The most distinct parts of Japanese poetry are that it composes in a syllabic pattern such as 5-7-5-7-7 in tanka instead of uniformity of kanji number in Chinese poems; moreover, the use of Japanese language in makurakotoba (fixed epithet), kakekotoba (homonym) and kotodama (word-soul), and lastly, the use of Kana rather than that Kanji in compilation. Despite the fact that Japan had developed some of its native techniques in poetry, techniques such as parallelism and repetition being used in Japanese poetry are definitely residues from Chinese literature.

Perhaps the most prominent poetic form of Man'yōshū is chōka. It composes in a syllabic pattern of 5-7-5-7-5…7-7 and...

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...idst of sadness. The composition of the poem has slightly touched the sentimental part of human, which connects the readers and the girl through skillful elaborations.

In conclusion, through the facts, explanations and examples I have given on Man'yōshū and Kokinshū, they are proved to be very different anthologies from each other. Poems in both of them have different forms, techniques, contents, expressions and aesthetic principles, as well as time of completion. However, they are equally important to the attribution of traditional Japanese poems and contemporary literate achievements.

Works Cited

Collection of Early and Modern Japanese Poetry: Composed on the first day of spring by Ki no Tsurayuki.

Encyclopedia of Japan, available though Japan Knowledge.

Keene, D. (1955). Man'yōshū: Climbing Kagu-yama and looking upon the land. New York: Grove Press

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