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The poetic expressiveness and creativity of Japanese women poets of the Manyoshu era is generally regarded as a manifestation of the freedom and relatively high political and economic status women of that era enjoyed. During the Heian period (A.D. 794 - 1185) which followed, Japanese women became increasingly relegated to domestic roles under the influence of Buddhism and Confucianism, which excluded women from the political and economic arenas. Yet, since poetry of the period came to be defined solely as short lyrical poetry, known as Wakas, and became the prevailing means of expressing love, women continued to excel and play a central role in the development of classical Japanese poetry. Moreover, while official Japanese documents were written in Chinese, the phonetic alphabet Kana was used for poetry. Also referred to as Onnamoji (women’s letters”), Kana was not deemed sufficiently sophisticated for use by Japanese men, who continued to write Chinese poetry, increasingly for expressing religious ideas and as an intellectual pastime. Chinese poetry ultimately yielded, then, to waka as the mainstream of Japanese poetry.