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Man'yōshū verse

Form
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Poetry from the Man'yōshū, Japan’s oldest extant anthology, characterized by chōka and tanka forms and archaic diction

Detailed Definition
Man'yōshū verse refers to poems from Japan’s oldest extant anthology (8th century), characterized by direct emotion, irregular meter (chōka and tanka forms), and unadorned diction; these verses capture courtly and folk sensibilities alike, using nature imagery and personal voice to express love, death, and travel, forming the bedrock of classical Japanese poetics.
Example
Example in poetry:
Man'yōshū poem 802: “In the mountain village / the autumn dusk— / how sad the cries of deer”; Poem 2689: “The summer grasses— / all that remains / of warriors’ dreams”; Poem 4197: “On a journey, / I saw a wild goose— / my heart flew with it”; Poem 3802: “Spring lingers— / on the willow branches, / mist like tears”
Additional Notes
Man'yōshū verse (8th c.) includes chōka (long poems) and tanka (short); uses archaic Japanese and direct emotion; themes: love, death, nature; foundational to Japanese poetics; differs from later refined court poetry in rawness
Also Known As
Man'yōshū poem Nara-period verse ancient Japanese lyric early waka Japanese Man’yōshū/Early Waka
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