ABSTRACT
The excavations at Asukadera - reputed to be the earliest Buddhist temple site in Japan ~ in the area of Asukaike during 1998 uncovered a number of wooden slats thought to date from the Asuka period (552-645) (Kyoto Shinbun, 5 September 1998a). They are interesting at the very least because they are amongst the earliest examples of writing in Japan. None of them are actually written in Japanese as such, although another excavation in the same year (Asahi Shinhun, 5 November 1998) unearthed a seventh-century slat with the first three lines in man 'yogana of a five-line poem (tanka) that is also found in the Kokinshu (905) . Nevertheless, one of the Asukadera slats (hereafter the Slat) provides fascinating evidence regarding Sino-Japanese. or Chinese as it was pronounced as a foreign language (but the language of culture) by the Japanese of the time.
