Kaifuso

• Compiled: 751
• Japanese: 懐風藻 (kaifuusou)

The Kaifûsô, compiled in 751, is the oldest compilation of Japanese poetry written in Chinese.

It shows early efforts by Japanese elites to adopt not only Chinese language, but also Chinese poetic style and allusions, and scholar William Theodore de Bary writes that it more closely resembles "copybook exercises than true poetry."

References

• William Theodore de Bary, Sources of Japanese Tradition, vol 1, Second Edition, Columbia University Press (2001), 97.