The Azuma Old Japanese Corpus

The corpus in this book consists of the 271 poems in the Man’yoshu written in an eighth-century Azuma Old Japanese dialect. A new reconstruction of the original text was achieved through a detailed comparison of the earliest extant manuscripts. Each poem is accompanied by a transliteration, English translation, linguistic analysis, and notes on orthographic differences in the manuscripts. Commentary that explains cultural features and figurative language is also provided. The poems are grouped by topolect, which allows for a clearer grasp of the areal distribution of the linguistic and cultural features throughout Azuma. An extensive etymological dictionary and several appendices are included. Target group: Students and researchers interested in Old Japanese poetry, orthography, linguistics, dialects, culture, or etymology