Old Japanese (上代日本語, Jōdai Nihon-go) is the oldest attested stage of the Japanese language. It is attested in documents from the Nara period (8th century). It evolved into Early Middle Japanese in the succeeding Heian period, although the precise separation of these two languages is controversial. Old Japanese was an early member of the Japonic family; no conclusive links to other language families have been demonstrated.