Kana Script

Timeline

1. 700–900Nara, Heian · JapanThe Man'yōshū was written in man'yōgana (using Chinese characters for their sound to record Japanese); in the early Heian period, monks and laypeople began using Chinese cursive to note sounds, laying the foundation for Kūkai's creation of katakana and women's development of hiragana from cursive forms.
2. 1050–1060Heian-kyō court · Heian periodBy the mid-eleventh century, hiragana had become the standard writing for court ladies' waka and diaries, while katakana was used for kanbun kundoku and annotations; the kana system was fully established in court culture.
3. 1000–1100Heian-kyō · Heian periodMurasaki Shikibu composed The Tale of Genji in hiragana, marking the peak of kana literature; kana writing became the core vehicle of Japanese national culture, influencing later ages down to the present day.