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{{Short description|Japanese pangram poem}}
{{other uses}}
{{Italic title|reason=[[:Category:Japanese words and phrases]]}}
{{Infobox poem
| name              = Iroha
| image             = New Edition of Iroha Brigade Characters (Shinpan iroha kumiji).jpg
| image_size        = 200px
| caption           = [[Matoi|Firefighters' insignia]] organized according to the Iroha.
| subtitle          = 
| author            = 
| original_title    = いろは歌
| original_title_lang = ja
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| country           = Japan
| language          = Japanese/[[hiragana]]
| series            = 
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}}
The {{Nihongo|'''''Iroha'''''|いろは}} is a [[Japanese language|Japanese]] poem.  Originally the poem was attributed to [[Kūkai]], the founder of [[Shingon Buddhism]], but more modern research has found the date of composition to be later in the [[Heian period]] (794–1179).<ref>{{harvp|Abe|1999|pp=392, 398}}</ref> The first record of its existence dates from 1079. It is famous because it is a [[perfect pangram]], containing each character of the [[Kana|Japanese syllabary]] exactly once. Because of this, it is also used as an [[collation|ordering]] for the syllabary, in the same way as the ''A'', ''B'', ''C'', ''D''... sequence of the Latin alphabet.

==Text==
The first appearance of the Iroha, in {{nihongo|''Konkōmyōsaishōōkyō Ongi''|金光明最勝王経音義||'Readings of [[Golden Light Sutra]]'}} was in seven lines: six with seven [[morae]] each, and one with five. It was also written in [[man'yōgana]].
<blockquote lang="ja" style="line-height:1.8em;"><poem>
以呂波耳本部止
千利奴流乎和加
餘多連曽津祢那
良牟有為能於久
耶万計不己衣天
阿佐伎喩女美之
恵比毛勢須
</poem></blockquote>

Structurally, however, the poem follows the standard 7–5 pattern of Japanese poetry (with one hypometric line), and in modern times it is generally written that way, in contexts where line breaks are used. The text of the poem in [[hiragana]] (with archaic {{lang|ja|[[Wi (kana)|ゐ]]}} and {{lang|ja|[[We (kana)|ゑ]]}} but without voiced consonant marks) is:

{| class="wikitable" border="1"
! colspan=2 | Archaic !! colspan=2 | Modern !! colspan=1 | Ordering (see [[#Usage|usage]]) !! Translation
|-
! [[hiragana]] !! transliteration !! [[kanji]] and [[hiragana]] !! pronunciation !! numbers !!
|-
| {{lang|ja|いろはにほへと}} || ''Iro fa nifofeto'' || {{lang|ja|色は匂えど [いろはにおえど]}} || ''Iro wa nioedo'' || 1–7 ||Even the blossoming flowers [Colors are fragrant, but they]
|-
| {{lang|ja|ちりぬるを}} || ''Tirinuru wo'' || {{lang|ja|散りぬるを}} || ''Chirinuru o'' || 8–12 ||Will eventually scatter
|-
| {{lang|ja|わかよたれそ}} || ''Wa ka yo tare so'' || {{lang|ja|我が世誰ぞ [わがよだれぞ]}} || ''Wa ga yo dare zo''<!-- agreed to keep 'ga' separate from 'wa' after consulting similar usage of 'wa' alone independent of 'ga', in Man'yôshû, the 8th-century collection of poetry -->|| 13–18 ||Who in our world
|-
| {{lang|ja|つねならむ}} || ''Tune naramu'' || {{lang|ja|常ならん [つねならん]}} || ''Tsune naran'' || 19–23 || Shall always be? (= つねなろう)
|-
| {{lang|ja|うゐのおくやま}} || ''Uwi no okuyama'' || {{lang|ja|有為の奥山 [ういのおくやま]}} || ''Ui no okuyama'' || 24–30 || The deep mountains of [[Saṅkhāra|conditions]]—
|-
| {{lang|ja|けふこえて}} || ''Kefu koyete'' || {{lang|ja|今日越えて [きょうこえて]}} || ''Kyō koete'' || 31–35 || We cross them today
|-
| {{lang|ja|あさきゆめみし}} || ''Asaki yume misi'' || {{lang|ja|浅き夢見じ [あさきゆめみじ]}} || ''Asaki yume miji'' || 36–42 || And we shall not have shallow dreams
|-
| {{lang|ja|ゑひもせす}} || ''Wefi mo sesu'' || {{lang|ja|酔いもせず [えいもせず]}} || ''Ei mo sezu''¹<br/>''Yoi mo sezu'' || 43–47 || Nor be intoxicated.
|}

Note that:
*Archaic, [[obsolete]], and [[Historical kana orthography|historical hiragana]] uses {{lang|ja|ゐ}} (historic Japanese ''wi'', modern ''i'') and {{lang|ja|ゑ}} (historic Japanese ''we'', modern ''e''), which are now only used in proper names and certain [[Okinawan language |Okinawan]] [[Okinawan scripts|orthographies]]. Modern writing uses voiced consonant marks (with [[dakuten]]). This is used as an indicator of [[sound change]]s in the spoken Japanese language in the Heian era.
*The consonant {{IPA|/h/}} in Japanese (a [[voiceless glottal fricative]]) was historically pronounced as {{IPA|/ɸ/}} (a [[voiceless bilabial fricative]]) before the occurrence of the so-called ''hagyō tenko'' (“'H'-row (kana) sound shift”, {{Linktext|ハ行転呼|lang=ja}}). Due to phonological changes over history, the pangram poem no longer matches today's pronunciation of modern kana.
*The mora [[E (kana)|e]] (spelt {{lang|ja|え}} & {{lang|ja|衣}}) and [[Ye (kana)|ye]] had merged into {{IPA|/je/}} in the 10th century,<ref>Frellesvig, Bjarke (1995). ''A Case Study in Diachronic Phonology: The Japanese Onbin Sound Changes''. Aarhus University Press. p. 73</ref> slightly before the poem was written down in 1079.
* Note 1: The verb form {{lang|ja|酔い}} ("being intoxicated; intoxication") may be read in modern kana pronunciation as either ''ei'', the archaic pronunciation based on the original kana spelling {{lang|ja|ゑひ}} (''wefi'' in Classical Japanese), or as ''yoi'', the modern reading after sound changes caused the base verb form ''eu'' to shift to ''you''.  The difference in reading depends on the intention of the rendering: keeping closer to the original, or keeping closer to modern usage.

An English translation by Professor [[Ryuichi Abe]]<ref name= "Abe_398" /> reads as:

{{quotation|<poem>
Although its scent still lingers on
  the form of a flower has scattered away
For whom will the glory
  of this world remain unchanged?
Arriving today at the yonder side
  of the deep mountains of evanescent existence
We shall never allow ourselves to drift away
  intoxicated, in the world of shallow dreams.
</poem>}}

Komatsu Hideo has revealed that the last mora of each line of the Man'yō-gana original ({{lang|ja|止加那久天之須}}), when put together, reveals a hidden sentence, ''toka [=toga] nakute shisu'' ({{lang |ja|咎無くて死す}}), which means "to die without wrong-doing". It is thought that this might be a eulogy in praise of [[Kūkai]], further supporting the notion that the Iroha was written after Kūkai's death.<ref name= "Abe_398">{{harvp |Abe|1999|p=398}}</ref>

==Usage==
The Iroha contains every kana only once, with the exception of {{lang|ja|ん}} (-''n''), which was not distinguished from {{lang|ja|む}} ''mu'' in writing until the early 20th century (see [[Japanese_script_reform#Pre-World_War_II_reforms|Japanese script reform]]).  For this reason, the poem was frequently used as an ordering of the kana until the [[Meiji era]] reforms in the 19th century. Around 1890, with the publication of the ''Wakun no Shiori'' ({{lang|ja|和訓栞}}) and ''Genkai'' ({{lang|ja|言海}}) dictionaries, the ''[[gojūon]]'' ({{lang|ja|五十音}}, literally "fifty sounds") ordering system, which is based on [[Sanskrit]], became more common. It begins with ''a'', ''i'', ''u'', ''e'', ''o'' then ''ka'', ''ki'', ''ku''... and so on for each kana used in Japanese.  Although the earliest known copy of the ''gojūon'' predated the Iroha, ''gojūon'' was considered too scholarly and had not been widely used.

Even after widespread use of ''gojūon'' in education and dictionaries, the ''Iroha'' sequence was commonly used as a system of showing order, similarly to ''a'', ''b'', ''c''... in English. For example, [[Imperial Japanese Navy submarines]] during the [[World War II|Second World War]] had official designations beginning with ''I'' (displacement 1,000 tonnes or more), ''Ro'' (500 to 999 tonnes), and ''Ha'' (less than 500 tonnes).  Also, Japanese tanks had official designations partly using ''Iroha'' ordering, such as ''[[Type 97 Chi-Ha#Japanese tank designations|Chi-ha]]'' (''ha'' meaning the third model). Other examples include subsection ordering in documents, seat numbering in theaters, and showing [[Go (board game)|go]] moves in diagrams ([[kifu]]).

===Current uses===
The ''Iroha'' sequence is still used today in many areas with long traditions. Most notably, [[:ja:法令の基本形式#号|Japanese laws and regulations]] officially use ''Iroha'' for lower-level subsection ordering purposes, for example {{lang|ja|第四十九条第二項第一号ロ}} (Article 49, Section 2, Subsection 1-''ro''). In official translation to English, ''i'', ''ro'', ''ha''... are replaced by ''a'', ''b'', ''c''... as in ''49(2)(i)(b)''.

In music, the [[Musical note|note]]s of an [[octave]] are named ''i ro ha ni ho he to'', written in [[katakana]].
{| class="wikitable" style="margin: auto;"
|+ '''Musical notes'''
|-
! English, Balkan and Northern European || C || D || E || F || G || A || B<ref>Also written as H</ref> 
|-
! Southern European || Do || Re || Mi || Fa || Sol<ref>Also called So</ref> || La || Si<ref>Also called Ti</ref>
|-
! Japanese
|{{lang|ja|ハ}} (ha)
|{{lang|ja|ニ}} (ni)
|{{lang|ja|ホ}} (ho)
|{{lang|ja|ヘ}} (he)
|{{lang|ja|ト}} (to)
|{{lang|ja|イ}} (i)
|{{lang|ja|ロ}} (ro)
|}

''Iroha'' is also used in numbering the classes of the conventional train cars of [[Japanese National Railways]] (now known as [[Japan Railways Group|JR]]). ''I'' is first class (no longer used), ''Ro'' is second class (now "Green car") and ''Ha'' is third class (standard carriages).

Some Japanese expressions are only understandable when one has knowledge of the ''Iroha''. The word ''iroha'' ({{lang|ja|イロハ}}, often in katakana) itself can mean "the basics" in Japanese, comparable to the term "the ABCs" in English. Similarly,  ''Iroha no i'' ({{lang|ja|イロハのイ}}) means "the most basic element of all". ''I no ichiban'' ({{lang|ja|いの一番}}, "number one of ''i''") means "the very first".

''[[karuta#Iroha Karuta|Iroha karuta]]'', a traditional card game, is still sold as an educational toy.

''Irohazaka'' ({{lang|ja|[[:ja:いろは坂|いろは坂]]}}), a one-way switchback mountain road in [[Nikkō, Tochigi]], is named for the poem because it has 48 corners. The route was popular with Buddhist pilgrims on their way to [[Lake Chūzenji]], which is at the top of the forested hill that this road climbs. While the narrow road has been modernized over the years, care has been taken to keep the number of curves constant.

[[HTML]]'s ordered list tag [[HTML_element#ol|<kbd>&lt;ol&gt;</kbd>]] supports the CSS property <kbd>list-style-type=hiragana-iroha</kbd> to label the list elements with the Iroha kana instead of the default [[Arabic numerals]].<ref>{{cite web
|url = https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Reference/Properties/list-style-type
|title = CSS Reference Properties list-style-type
|publisher = MDN
|accessdate = 2025-12-17
}}</ref>.

== Origin ==
Authorship is traditionally ascribed to the Heian era Japanese [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] priest and scholar [[Kūkai]] ({{lang|ja|空海}}) (774–835).  However, this is unlikely as it is believed that in his time there were separate ''e'' sounds in the ''a'' and ''ya'' columns of the kana table. The {{lang|ja|え}} (''e'') above would have been pronounced ''ye'', making the pangram incomplete.<ref>{{harvp|Abe|1999|p=392}}</ref>

It is said <ref>Tetsurō, W., & Umeyo, H. (1971). Japanese Literary Arts and Buddhist Philosophy. The Eastern Buddhist, 4(1), 106. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44361266</ref> that the ''Iroha'' is a transformation of the "''Gatha'' on Impermanence" verses in the ''[[Nirvana Sutra]]'':

<blockquote lang="ja"><poem>
諸行無常
是生滅法
生滅滅已
寂滅為楽
</poem></blockquote>

which translates into

{{quote|<poem>
All acts are [[impermanence|impermanent]]
That's the law of creation and destruction.
When all creation and destruction are extinguished
That ultimate stillness ([[nirvana]]) is true bliss.
</poem>}}

The above in Japanese is read

<blockquote lang="ja-Latn"><poem>
''Shogyō mujō''
''Zeshō meppō''
''Shōmetsu metsui''
''Jakumetsu iraku''
</poem></blockquote>

== See also ==
* ''[[Ametsuchi no Uta]]'' (an earlier pangram)
* [[Heavenly stems]], a Chinese-originating set of ordinals
* [[Japanese literature]]

=== Other languages ===
* [[Abecedarius]]
* [[Alphabet song]]
* ''[[Shiva Sutra]]'', Sanskrit poem with similar function
* [[Javanese script#Order|Hanacaraka]], the traditional arrangement of the letters of the Javanese alphabet
* [[The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog]], commonly used English phrase with every letter in the Latin alphabet
* [[Thousand Character Classic]], Chinese poem with similar function, especially used in Korea

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

===References===
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite book | last = Abe | first = Ryuichi | title = The Weaving of Mantra: Kûkai and the Construction of Esoteric Buddhist Discourse | publisher = Columbia University Press | year = 1999 | isbn = 0-231-11286-6 }}
{{refend}}

{{Japanese poetry}}

[[Category:Japanese poems]]
[[Category:Japanese writing system]]
[[Category:Collation]]
[[Category:Articles containing Japanese poems]]
[[Category:Constrained writing]]
[[Category:Pangrams]]
[[Category:Buddhist poetry]]