Iroha

The iroha (Jp. いろは) is a Japanese poem most likely written sometime during the Heian era (AD 794–1179). Authorship is traditionally ascribed to the Heian era Japanese Buddhist priest and scholar Kūkai (空海) (774–835).

The text of the poem in hiragana (with archaic ゐ and ゑ) is:

いろはにほへと
ちりぬるを
わかよたれそ
つねならむ
うゐのおくやま
けふこえて
あさきゆめみし
ゑひもせす

The text of the poem in kanji and kana is:

色は匂へと
散りぬるを
我が世誰そ
常ならむ
有為の奥山
今日越えて
浅き夢見し
酔ひもせす

The poem exhibits the 7-5-syllable repeated verse structure.

An English translation:

As flowers are brilliant but [inevitably] fall,

who could remain constant in our world? [No one could]

Today let's transcend the high mountain of transience,

and there will be no more shallow dreaming, no more drunkenness.

The iroha is distinctive in that it is a perfect pangram—it uses each and every kana precisely once (with the exception of ん [-n], which was added to the syllabary later). For this reason, the poem was used as an ordering of the Japanese syllabary until the Meiji era reforms in the 19th century. One still occasionally encounters iroha in modern Japan. For example, it is used for seat numbering in theaters.

The iroha is used as an indicator of sound changes in the spoken Japanese language in the Heian era.

The word いろは (iroha) can also be used to mean "ABCs" or "The basics" in Japanese.

Strictly transliterated the poem runs:

To obtain the meaning indicated above, one must read the poem with some flexibility. These changes yield:

Iro wa nioedo

Chirinuru o

Waga yo tare zo

Tsunenaran

Ui no okuyama

Kyoo koete

Asaki yume miji

Ei mo sezu. [or yoi mo sezu.]

See also

• Japanese language
• Japanese literature
• pangram
• poetry