In the "Manyoshu" (Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves), there exists a Japanese poem composed by OTOMO no Yakamochi about the Milky Way, and he wrote about the Milky Way in the Chinese characters "天漢," which reads "Amanogawa" in Japanese.
『万葉集』では、大伴家持の歌に、天漢（あまのがわ）とも記されている。