14/8/2018 · While all English and Japanese vowels are voiced, consonants can be either voiced or unvoiced. かきくけこ and さしすせそ are unvoiced consonants (k, s) with voiced vowels (a, i, u, e, o) attached to them. まみむめも and らりるれろ are voiced consonants (m, r) with voiced vowels (a, i, u, e, o) attached to them.

Old Japanese is usually defined as the language of the Nara period (710–794), when the capital was Heijō-kyō (now Nara). That is the period of the earliest connected texts in Japanese, the 112 songs included in the Kojiki (712). The other major literary sources of the period are the 128 songs included in the Nihon Shoki (720) and the Man'yōshū (c. 759), a compilation of over …