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, but the precise delimitation of the stages is controversial.
Old Japanese was an early member of the Japonic language family. No genetic links to other language families have been proven.
Rubbing of Bussokuseki-kahi poems carved c. 752, recording Old Japanese using Chinese characters
11th-century annotated manuscript of the Man'yōshū
Japanese is the principal language of the Japonic language family spoken by the Japanese people. It has around 120 million speakers, primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language, and within the Japanese diaspora worldwide.
A page from the Man'yōshū, the oldest anthology of classical Japanese poetry
A 12th-century emaki scroll of The Tale of Genji from the 11th century