Origin In use at least since the mid-7th century, during the Nara period.
Man'yogana 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 use is not clear, but it was in use at least since the mid-7th century, during the Nara period. The name derives from the Man'yoshu, a Japanese poetry anthology written in man'yogana that was compiled after 759 AD. Although Japanese texts have always used imported Chinese characters logographically for their meanings, man'yogana borrows only the characters' on'yomi pronunciations as an approximate phonetic representation.
Facts
Origins
Origin PeriodIn use at least since the mid-7th century, during the Nara period. 1 Script type (class) Connections
Derived From
Source Man'yogana (Wikipedia)
Originates in Language
Source Man'yogana (Wikipedia)
Script Of
The Old Japanese corpus was written in man'yogana.
Source Old Japanese (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Man'yogana (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationMan'yōgana, lead paragraph
is an ancient Japanese writing system that uses Chinese characters to phonetically represent Old Japanese.
Man'yōgana, article text
It was the first known kana system to be developed as a means to phonetically transcribe the Japanese language.
View the Source Old Japanese (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationScript Of: Old Japanese, Old Japanese, corpusQuote, Script Of: Old Japanese, Old Japanese, corpus
These texts were written using man'yōgana, a writing system that employs Chinese characters as syllabograms or (occasionally) logograms.
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