In this video, I discuss a few of Man’yōshū‘s major named poets: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, Yamabe no Akahito, Yamabe no Okura, Ōtomo no Yakamochi and Lady Ōtomo of Sakanoue.

In this video, I discuss the influences which shaped the poems of Man’yōshū – the political and cultural environment which gave rise to them, and how they have traditionally been classified and understood.

In this short video, I introduce Japan’s oldest anthology of poetry, Man’yōshū 万葉集 (‘Collection of a Myriad Leaves’), which was completed in the late eighth century and has remained an object of study, entertainment and admiration ever since.