万葉歌碑 Stone

Inscribed on the Man’yōshū Stone, a poignant verse echoes across time. It speaks of enduring love, a testament to the power of words etched in stone. The Man’yōshū Stone stands here in Osaka, a tribute to Japan’s oldest anthology of poetry, the Man’yōshū, meaning “Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves”. Compiled sometime after 759 AD, this anthology holds over 4,500 poems, spanning centuries of Japanese history and culture. The Man’yōshū is a tapestry of voices, from emperors to commoners, soldiers to farmers, each contributing a leaf to this vast collection. The stone before you bears a poem, a fragment of this literary heritage. The Man’yōshū itself doesn’t have a preface, leaving its exact meaning open to interpretation. One theory suggests the title refers to the sheer volume of poems, like countless leaves on a tree. Another proposes it signifies the anthology’s intended longevity, meant to endure for generations. The Man’yōshū is more than just a collection of poems. It’s a window into the heart of ancient Japan, reflecting its values, beliefs, and sentiments. The anthology preserves not only individual poems but also the names of earlier Japanese poetic compilations like the Ruijū Karin and the Kokashū. The Man’yōshū is written using Man’yōgana, an early Japanese writing system. This system, using Chinese characters to represent Japanese sounds, played a crucial role in the development of modern kana. This stone, a physical manifestation of a poem from the Man’yōshū, invites you to connect with the past. It’s a reminder that words, like stone, can withstand the test of time. The Man’yōshū Stone serves as a tangible link to a rich literary tradition, inviting us to explore the “Ten Thousand Leaves” and the stories they whisper.