Man'yoshu and Tanka: Japan's Oldest Poetry

Discover the Man'yoshu, Japan's oldest poetry anthology, and the five-line tanka form it popularized, with tips for reading and writing your own verses.

Published October 17, 2026 at 10:14 PM JST | By Tokyo Paul

Quick answer: The Man'yoshu is Japan's oldest poetry anthology, compiled in the Nara period with more than 4,500 poems in 20 volumes. Most of its poems are tanka, short five-part verses that usually follow a 5-7-5-7-7 pattern of sound units and that remain popular in Japan today.

Few books connect today's Japan to its distant past as warmly as the Man'yoshu. This eighth-century anthology of poems has found fresh attention in recent years, partly because the name of the current imperial era, Reiwa, was drawn from one of its pages. That made many people curious about what the collection actually contains and why a book more than twelve centuries old still feels so personal. This guide explains what the Man'yoshu is, how its poems are built, how the tanka form grew out of it, and how you can enjoy both as a reader or even a beginner poet.

What the Man'yoshu Is

The Man'yoshu is the oldest surviving anthology of Japanese poetry, compiled during the Nara period. It holds more than 4,500 poems arranged across 20 volumes, and the latest poem that can be dated comes from the year 759. The title is usually understood as "collection of ten thousand leaves," and scholars have offered several readings of it: a book of countless poems, a collection to last for ten thousand generations, or a very large volume of paper. All of these are charming ways to think about a book that gathers voices from many walks of life.

The collection is a true mix of voices. Emperors and empresses appear beside court officials, soldiers, and travelers, and many entries are about love, longing, nature, and the passing of the seasons. Four poets are often named as the big figures of the book. Princess Nukata belongs to the earliest period, Kakinomoto no Hitomaro is widely regarded as its greatest poet, Yamanoue no Okura is another celebrated name from the third period, and Otomo no Yakamochi is believed to be the final compiler.

The book is also important for the history of writing. At the time, Japan did not yet have its own kana scripts, so the poems were written with Chinese characters used for their sounds. This system is called man'yogana, meaning "the kana of the Man'yoshu," and it eventually helped lead to hiragana and katakana, the syllabic scripts still used every day. In that sense, the anthology preserves not only poems but also an early stage of the written Japanese language.

Choka, Tanka and the Shape of the Poems

The Man'yoshu contains several forms. The choka, or "long poem," runs for many lines and often tells a story or celebrates a place. There are about 265 of these in the collection. The tanka, or "short poem," is by far the most common, with roughly 4,200 examples. A few unusual forms also appear, including a rare six-part pattern called bussokusekika, which shows how experimental early poets could be.

A tanka has five parts that usually follow a 5-7-5-7-7 pattern of sound units known as on. These are close to syllables but not identical, so a Japanese word like "Tokyo" counts as four on rather than two syllables. The first three lines are called the kami-no-ku, the "upper phrase," and the last two are the shimo-no-ku, the "lower phrase." Many tanka use the upper phrase to paint a scene and the lower phrase to reveal a feeling, which gives the poem a gentle turn right in the middle.

Over time the short form took over. By the era of the Kokinshu, an anthology from the ninth and tenth centuries, the tanka had become the dominant style, and the general word waka, meaning "Japanese poem," came to be used for it. This is why the Man'yoshu sits at the root of the whole tradition: the tanka you can read today is a living descendant of the poems collected in those twenty volumes.

How Tanka Returned in Modern Times

Tanka did not fade into a museum piece. In the early twentieth century the writer Masaoka Shiki called for waka to be modernized and revived the term "tanka" for the new approach. Magazines such as Myojo brought together poets including Ishikawa Takuboku and Yosano Akiko, who wrote about everyday life and personal feeling in fresh language. Their work showed that the old form could carry modern emotions.

Interest cooled after the Second World War, but a famous revival followed in 1987, when Machi Tawara published a bestselling collection called Salad Anniversary. Written in plain, conversational Japanese, it brought many new readers to tanka. Today the form remains popular, with newspaper columns that accept submissions from the public and many amateur and professional poets writing in it. It is one of the few ancient literary forms that ordinary people still use to share their daily thoughts.

It is worth knowing how tanka differs from haiku, the better-known short form abroad. Haiku has three parts and traditionally focuses on a single moment in nature, while tanka has five parts and has more room for emotion and reflection. Both share roots in Japan's long poetic tradition, and Masaoka Shiki helped shape the modern versions of both.

How to Enjoy the Poems

If you would like to start reading, look for English translations that include the original Japanese and short notes on each poem. Many editions group poems by theme, such as spring, travel, or love, which makes it easy to dip in without reading all 20 volumes. A single tanka is short enough to read in half a minute, yet it can reward several slow readings. Try reading each one aloud, because the rhythm of five and seven sound units is part of the pleasure.

Notice the seasonal images, too. Plum blossoms, cherry petals, autumn leaves, and the moon appear again and again, and they tend to carry emotional meanings. The story behind the name Reiwa is a nice example. It comes from the preface to a group of poems written for a gathering to admire plum blossoms, in a phrase that describes a fair month of new spring. Knowing this adds a layer of meaning to a word that appears on official documents and calendars across Japan.

Reading the poems in Japan can be even more rewarding. Visitors who travel around Nara Prefecture, the heartland of the Nara period, often enjoy thinking about the voices from long ago while they walk through its gardens and old temple grounds. Bringing a small notebook along gives you a chance to jot down your own impressions of what you see, in the same spirit as the old poets.

Trying Your Own Tanka

Writing a tanka is a lovely, low-pressure creative exercise. Start with one clear image from your day, such as rain on a window or the smell of a market. Use the first three lines to describe it and the last two to say how it made you feel. Do not worry if your count of 5-7-5-7-7 is not perfect. English syllables are not the same as Japanese on, and many modern poets treat the pattern as a guide rather than a strict rule.

Japanese poets also accept small variations. Lines that run a little long or a little short are known by names such as ji-amari and ji-tarazu, which shows that the tradition has always allowed flexibility. The important part is the sense of balance between a scene and a feeling. Reading your tanka aloud will quickly tell you whether it flows.

Quick Takeaways

The Man'yoshu is Japan's oldest poetry anthology, with more than 4,500 poems in 20 volumes, compiled in the Nara period. Most of its poems are tanka, short verses in five parts that move from a scene to a feeling, and the form has stayed alive for over a thousand years through revivals by Masaoka Shiki and Machi Tawara. The anthology also helped shape the written language through man'yogana, and it even gave Japan the name of its current era.

Whether you read translations at home or write a verse of your own, the best approach is to go slowly and enjoy the images. A single short poem can open a window onto a world of plum blossoms, travel roads, and tender feelings, and it asks only a few quiet minutes of your time. Welcome to one of the friendliest doors into Japanese culture.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does Man'yoshu mean?

The title is usually read as a collection of ten thousand leaves. Interpretations include a book of countless poems, a collection meant to last for ten thousand generations, or a book that used a large amount of paper. All of them point to a very large, treasured anthology.

What is the structure of a tanka?

A tanka has five parts that usually follow a 5-7-5-7-7 pattern of sound units called on. The first three form the upper phrase and the last two form the lower phrase. Many poems describe a scene first and then turn toward a feeling.

How is the era name Reiwa connected to the Man'yoshu?

The characters of Reiwa come from a headnote to a group of poems in Volume 5, written for a gathering to admire plum blossoms. The phrase describes a fair month of new spring. The Reiwa era began on 1 May 2019.

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