Man'yōgana
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Man'yōgana is an ancient Japanese writing system that uses Chinese characters to phonetically represent Old Japanese. It was the first known kana system to be developed as a means to phonetically tran
A page from Katsura-bon Man'yōshū with poems written with man'yōgana and accompanied by hiragana transcription.
Old Japanese
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Old Japanese is the oldest attested stage of the Japanese language, recorded in documents from the Nara period. It became Early Middle Japanese in the succeeding Heian period. Old Japanese is an early
Man'yōgana
…Man'yōgana (万葉仮名; Japanese pronunciation: or ) is an ancient Japanese writing system that uses Chinese characters to phonetically represent Old Japanese. It was the first known kana system to be developed as a means to phonetically transcribe the Japanese language. Dating of the earliest man'yōgana usage…
Rubbing of Bussokuseki-kahi poems carved c. 752, recording Old Japanese using Chinese characters
11th-century annotated manuscript of the Man'yōshū