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The most important poetic forms in the anthology are the choka (long poem), consisting of alternate lines of five and seven syllables, followed by a final line of seven syllables; and the tanka (short poem), consisting of 31 syllables, written in five lines according to a pattern of five, seven, five, seven, and seven syllables.
Kakinomoto no Hitomaro is one of the poets featured in the work. Other significant poets are Yamabe no Akahito , Otomo no Tabito , Yamanoue no Okura and Yakamochi himself. There are many anonymous poets too. Some poems were written in dialect.The anthology is written using a syllabary called man'yogana, in which Chinese characters( kanji) serve as phonetic symbols of syllables rather than of words. It is one of greatest sources for linguists who study Japaneese till the 8th century. It is controversial how many vowels the ancient Japanese had. Most expecting theory says it had 8 vowels (a, two kind of e, i, u, two kind of o). The differences between applied characters in manyogana suggest the possibility of 8 vowels existence.
See also: Kokin-wakashu, Shin-kokin-wakashu
An often recommended translation by: Honda HH, The Manshoyu: A new and complete translation, Tokyo 1967
Japan-related stubs Poetry anthology Japanese literatureJapanese literature spans a period of almost two millennia of writing. Early work was heavily influenced by Chinese literature, but Japan quickly developed a style and quality of its own. When Japan was re-opened suddenly in the 19th century, Western Lite