Japanese literature developed primarily in the forms of fiction, poetry, the essay, and the drama. This development is usually divided into the Yamato, Heian, Kamakura-Muromachi, Edo, and modern periods; the first four are each named after the site of the main administrative center of Japan at the time.

Yamato Period (archaic times to late 8th century AD).

Although no written literature existed before the 8th century, a large number of ballads, ritual prayers, myths, and legends were composed in the previous centuries. These compositions subsequently were recorded and are included in the Koji-ki (Records of Ancient Matters, 712), written largely in Japanese with Chinese characters, and the Nihon shoki (History Book of Ancient Japan, 720), written almost exclusively in Chinese. The earliest extant histories of Japan, these works explain the origin of the Japanese people, the formation of the Japanese state, and the essence of the national polity. Although both works contain much the same mythical and historical material, the Koji-ki is clearly intended for exclusive use by the Japanese, whereas the Nihon shoki, showing the influence of Chinese thought, is broader in scope. A lyric poetry developed from the early ballads included in these works that was collected in the first great Japanese anthology, the Manyo-shu (Anthology of a Myriad Leaves), compiled by the poet Otomo no Yakamochi after 759. In this anthology a primitive syllabary is used, known as manyo-gana, in which Chinese characters serve as phonetic symbols of syllables rather than of words. The two most important poetic forms in the anthology are the choka (long poem), consisting of alternate lines of five and seven syllables, followed by a final line of seven syllables to which is appended one or more hanka (envoys); and the tanka (short poem), consisting of 31 syllables, written in five lines according to a pattern of five, seven, five, seven, and seven syllables. The tanka became the preeminent Japanese verse form, maintaining its vitality until the modern period, whereas the choka soon waned in popularity. The foremost poet of the Manyo-shu is Kakinomoto Hitomaro (flourished about 680-710), who handled freely all forms of verse. The prevailing mood of the anthology is makoto (truth or sincerity), the full involvement of the person.

Heian Period (late 8th-late 12th cent.).

In the late 8th century the seat of government was shifted to Heian-kyo (present-day Kyoto), and a new type of literature emerged among the aristocratic court society. The creation of the Japanese syllabaries in this century aided the development of prose fiction as well as of poetry. The Kokin-shu (Anthology of Ancient and Modern Poems, 905) clearly reflects the change in mood from that of personal sincerity, which characterized the previous period, to one of mono no aware, or empathy with the essence of things, a bond linking nature and human beings. The chief compiler, Ki Tsurayuki (died about 945), who provided the basis for Japanese poetics in his preface, was himself a poet of note, and his poems are included in the anthology. Most of the poems, however, are taken from earlier periods. Tsurayuki is noted also as the author of the Tosa-Diary (trans. 1912), the first example of an important Japanese genre, the literary diary. The work recounts his journey home to Kyoto from Tosa Province and includes moving references to his daughter's death there.