DISCOVER YAMATO MAN’YŌSHŪ POETRY & MONUMENTS
万葉歌と万葉歌碑

Man'yōshū
万葉集

The Man'yōshū is Japan's oldest book of poetry,
a collection of verse composed between the 5th century and latter half of the 8th century.
Thought to have been completed after 759, it features over 4,500 works composed by people of various stations in life, from the Emperors and their nobles to minor officials and soldiers.
The opening verse was composed in the Yamato region along with approximately 240 other works, and many poetic monuments can still be found in Yamato to this day. Among them, here we introduce some of Man'yōshū poems located around the Yamanobe Road and monuments on which they are inscribed, along with the beautiful English translations and commentaries by Peter MacMillan.


5世紀代から8世紀後半に詠まれた歌から成る日本最古の歌集です。
天皇、貴族、下級官人、兵士など様々な身分の人間が詠んだ歌を4500首以上も集めたもので成立は759年以後とみられます。
巻頭歌が詠まれたのはヤマトの地であり、約240首もの歌がこの地で詠まれており、歌碑も残っています。
そのなかから、ここでは、山の辺の道周辺の26首の万葉歌と、歌が刻まれた万葉歌碑を、ピーター・マクミランさんの美しい英訳・解説と共に紹介します。