Which Japanese poetry anthology contains about 4,500 poems?

The Japanese poetry anthology containing about 4,500 poems is the Man'yoshu.

Compiled during Japan's Nara period, the Man'yoshu is the oldest surviving anthology of poetry in classical Japanese. Its poems were assembled over time, with the final editing traditionally associated with Otomo no Yakamochi, and the collection was completed sometime after 759.

The anthology has 20 books and preserves work by emperors, aristocrats, soldiers, provincial residents, and anonymous poets. It includes short waka, long choka, and other forms, making it broader than the later court-centered collections. Many poems were written using man'yogana, Chinese characters used phonetically to represent Japanese sounds.

The exact total can vary because scholars differ over duplicate, variant, and disputed poems. Figures such as 4,506 and 4,516 appear in scholarship, but “about 4,500” is the standard quiz-friendly description. The Kokin Wakashu and Shin Kokin Wakashu are later imperial anthologies, while Hyakunin Isshu is a much smaller anthology of 100 poems.