Japan has two type of mana characters: kanji, which are derived from Chinese characters which made their way to Japan via the Korean peninsula in the 5th century, and kana the phonetic simplifications combined in the written language. Japan, lacking a writing system prior to the arrival of kanji, has no historical records earlier than the 5th century. The development of kana was not instantaneous; it took quite awhile before kanji was modified leaving all early Japanese literature written in kanji. Two of the oldest written works in Japan are the Tennouki and the Teiki, which are thought to have been genealogical records of the extended Imperial family.

More on the history of Japanese literature next week.

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