Manyōshū, “the first important literary achievement” of Japan, has been studied by several schools of thought during its long history, and has been appropriated by several functions of society (the poets of the courtly tradition beginning with the Heian period, the ritualists of the sacred, the kokugakusha or scholars of the nation, the military leaders, or the creators of the “new” literary canon in the modern age, or contemporary theorists of literature). Modern researchers, especially those with a background in Japanese religion, have looked at it in new ways, demonstrating convincingly that many poems had primarily a religious or ritual function. The poems I highlight in this article show us some unfamiliar customs or beliefs, but the underlying human attitudes and feelings are still the same as ours and may thus help us to give Manyōshū a fuller appreciation.