The Man'yōshū and the Kokinshū are two of Japan's most famous poetry collections. Both played a significant role in laying the foundation for Japanese literature. The Man'yōshū is the earliest extant private collection of Japanese poetry compiled in 759 AD. During the Nara period, when the Japanese were massively importing everything from culture to bureaucratic systems to literature from China, the Man'yōshū was created to differentiate Japanese poetry or waka from Chinese poetry. It is also known for containing poets from various social classes and areas of Japan. This is particularly unique since later anthologies compiled under the imperial order were exclusive to the aristocracy. Furthermore, the poetic voices of the aristocracy were not filled with Chinese ideals. There were many compilers for the Man'yōshū, but its best-known compiler is Ōtomo no Yakamochi who compiled its final four volumes. Although the translation of the title Man'yōshū literally means "collection of ten thousand leaves", it actually contains only 4,516 poems. It is possible that the "leaves" may refer to words rather than actual poems. In addition to the content of the anthology, the writing system and style also had a profound effect. The Man'yōshū also developed a writing system based on the script used in it: Man'yogana. Man'yogana, which is phonetically, applied Chinese characters that represented the Japanese sound and sometimes meaning. It eventually evolved into the modern hiragana system. The dominant poetic form is the tanka or short poems, comprising approximately 4,200 poems. Although the Man'yōshū does not contain a preface like some imperial anthologies, the main theme throughout the compilation was a sense of sincerity or ma..... . half of paper ......for a lover. Judging from this point of view, people then did not believe in the idea of ​​​​eternal love. Works Cited Cook, Lewis. "Introduction to Kokinshū." Japanese Text Initiative. University of Virginia Library, August 31, 2004. Web. January 31, 2011. .McCullough, Helen Craig. Kokin Wakashu. The first imperial anthology of Japanese poetry. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1985. 3-7. Print."Kakinomoto Hitomaro." Encyclopedia of Japan. Kodansha, 2011. Web. "Kokinshu." Encyclopedia of Japan. Kodansha, 2011. Web. "Man'yōshū." Encyclopedia of Japan. Kodansha, 2011. Web. .