古今和歌集 (Kokin waka-shu)

古今和歌集 (Kokin waka-shu) (Collection of Ancient and Modern Poems), according to the Japan Encyclopedia, is the first of 21 imperial anthologies, with its compilation started in AD 905 on the order of Emperor Daigo by Ki no tsurayuki, Ki no Tomonori, Mibu no Tadamine, and Oshikochi no Mitsume. It collects 1,100 poems and divides them into 20 sections. It is the first to classify the collection by themes that included seasons, nature, love, travel, feeling etc. In its preface there is a paragraph as quoted below:

やまと歌は、人の心を種として、万言の葉とぞ成れりける。世中に在る人、事、業、繁きものなれば、心に思ふ事を、看るもの、聞くものに付けて、言ひ出せるなり。. . .
天地を動かし、目に見えぬ鬼神をも哀れと思はせ、男女の仲を和らげ、猛き武人の心をも慰むるは、歌なり。

When I read the above paragraph, I was amazed at the similarity of language usage between the Chinese and Japanese scholars centuries ago. In the above, the Japanese said that their poems could move the sky and earth, and could touch the invisible ghosts and gods. Below, from a Chinese dictionary, the 漢語成語大詞典, I find the following entry on the definition of "to move the sky and earth, to touch the ghosts and gods" :

[動天地, 感鬼神] : 使天地鬼神為之感動. 形容有種事跡或文藝作品極為感人. 金.元好問<陶然集詩序>: "詩之極致, 可以動天地, 感鬼神."

Reference
1. Louis Frederic, translated by Kathe Roth. Japan Encyclopedia. Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2002.
2.漢語成語大詞典. 湖北大學古籍研究所編. 中華書局出版發行, 2002.