Japan-Ancient literature

Ancient literature (Until 794)

Before the introduction of kanji from China,there was no Japanese writing system. At first, Chinese characters were used in Japanese syntactical formats, and the result was sentences that look like Chinese but are phonetically read as Japanese. Chinese characters were further adapted, creating what is known as man'yōgana, the earliest form of kana, or syllabic writing. The earliest works were created in the Nara period. These include Kojiki (712), a work recording Japanese mythology and legendary history; Nihon Shoki (720), a chronicle with a slightly more solid foundation in historical records than Kojiki and Man'yōshū (759), a poetry anthology. One of the stories they describe is the tale of Urashima Tarō, which has been identified as the earliest example of a story involving time travel.