It is thought that the Manyoshu was completed after 759, with more than 4,500 poems composed by people of different birth from emperors and nobles to lower ranked officials and Sakimori (soldiers garrisoned at strategic posts in Kyushu in ancient times), and so on.
天皇、貴族から下級官人、防人など様々な身分の人間が詠んだ歌を4500首以上も集めたもので、成立は759年（天平宝字3）以後と見られる。