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manyōgana
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Chinese characters used as phonograms to write the Japanese language. The name refers to the Manyōshū , an anthology of Japanese poems of the eighth century ce . Graphically manyōgana look like Chinese characters, but functionally they are different, representing syllables rather than morpheme-syllable units. They thus embody the initial stage of the Japanese kana syllabaries. See also kana . ... log in or subscribe to read full text
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