Iroha

:"This article refers to the Japanese poem. For the video game character see Iroha (Samurai Shodown). For the Nigerian footballer, see Benedict Iroha."

The iroha (Japanese: _ja. 伊呂波, いろは) is a Japanese poem most likely written sometime during the Heian era (AD 794–1179). Originally the poem was attributed to the founder of the Shingon sect of Buddhism, Kukai, but more modern research has found the date of composition to be later in the Heian Period.cite book | last = Abe | first = Ryuichi | title = The Weaving of Mantra: Kukai and the Construction of Esoteric Buddhist Discourse | publisher = Columbia University Press | year = 1999 | isbn = 0231112866 | pages = 392, 398 ] The first record of its existence dates from 1079. It is famous because it is a perfect pangram, containing each character of the Japanese syllabary exactly once. Because of this, it is also used as an ordering for the syllabary.

Text

The first appearance of the Iroha, in 金光明最勝王経音義, was in seven lines: six with seven morae each, and one with five. It was also written in man'yogana.

以呂波耳本へ止
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

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 ゐ and ゑ but without voiced consonant marks) 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

i ro ha ni ho he to
chi ri nu ru wo
wa ka yo ta re so
tsu ne na ra mu
u wi no o ku ya ma
ke fu ko e te
a sa ki yu me mi shi
we hi mo se su

The text of the poem in kanji and kana, voiced where appropriate, is:

色は匂へど
散りぬるを
我が世誰ぞ
常ならむ
有為の奥山
今日越えて
浅き夢見じ
酔ひもせず

An English translation:

:"As flowers are brilliant but " ["inevitably"] " fall,":"who could remain constant in our world? " ["No one could"] :"Today let us transcend the high mountain of transience,":"and there will be no more shallow dreaming, no more drunkenness."

An alternative English translation by Professor Ryuichi Abe reads as:

:"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".ibid, page 398]

Research by Komatsu Hideo also revealed that the last syllable of each line of the Man'yōgana original, when put together, revealed another hidden sentence, "toka [=toga] nakute shisu", which means "die without sin". It is thought that this might be eulogy in praise of Kūkai, further supporting the notion that the Iroha was written after Kūkai passed away.ibid, page 398]

ound change

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

Strictly transliterated the poem runs:

i ro ha ni ho he to chi ri nu ru (w)o wa ka yo ta re so tsu ne na ra mu u (w)i no o ku ya ma ke fu ko e te a sa ki yu me mi shi (w)e hi mo se su

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

:"Iro wa nioedo":"Chirinuru o":"Wa ga yo tare zo" :"Tsune naran":"Ui no okuyama":"Kyō koete":"Asaki yume miji":"Ei mo sezu."

Usage

The iroha contains every kana precisely once, with the exception of ん [-n] , which was spelled just like む "mu" at the time. For this reason, the poem was frequently used as an ordering of the kana until the Meiji era reforms in the 19th century. Thereafter the "gojūon" ( _ja. 五十音, literally "fifty sounds") ordering system became more common. This order is partly based on Sanskrit. It begins with "a, i, u, e, o" then "ka, ki, ku..." and so on for each kana used in Japanese. Although the iroha is seen as more "old fashioned" than the gojūon, the earliest known copy of the gojūon predates the iroha.

The iroha is still occasionally encountered in modern Japan. For example, it is used for seat numbering in theaters, and (from right to left) across the top of Go game diagrams (kifu), as in Yasunari Kawabata's Meijin. Western go game diagrams use either letters or letters and numbers. In music, the notes of an octave are named i ro ha ni ho he to, written in katakana.

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

Although the Japanese employ the heavenly stems for rank order besides both the Chinese and Arabic numerals as well as the Latin alphabet, the iroha sequence was used to note the rank of submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Second World War. All long-range submarines had designations beginning with "I" (e.g., the largest submarine had "I400" painted on its conning tower), coastal submarines began with "Ro", and training or marginally usable submarines had "Ha".

Japanese weapons, made before 1945 were numbered in series with the original poem. Refer to "Japanese Rifles" by Hunicutt and Anthony for examples of this practice. It is not known today if this was done out of respect for custom, or for reasons of military security or secrecy. Beginning with the second production of the type 38 rifle, ie: after they produced the first 1,000,000 rifles, the Japanese Arsenal, Koishikawa, began with series "I" and continued until the type 38 was replaced by the improved type 99 (In 1939) The rifles were made in blocks of 100,000 each, before changing the Kana symbol to the next in order of the poem.

This practice apparently started after the great Tokyo earthquake of the mid 1920's, when the Tokyo Arsenal was almost totally destroyed and production was moved to Kokura and Nagoya Arsenals

The weapons affected by this, among others, were the type 38 rifle, the type 38 carbine, the type 44 carbine, and certain machine guns, all in Caliber 6,5mm. After 1939, when the caliber was increased to 7,7mm, the weapons numbered with this system include; The type 99 long rifle, the type 99 short rifle, the type 0, and the type 2 paratrooper rifles...(This is the take-down type rifle used by Lawrence Harvey in the film "The Manchurian Candidate")

Handguns were made under a different system, involving sub contractors and private purchases by Japanese Officers.

Origin

Authorship is traditionally ascribed to the Heian era Japanese Buddhist priest and scholar Kūkai ( _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 え ("e") above would have been pronounced "ye", making the pangram incomplete.Ibid., page 392]

It is said that the "iroha" is a transformation of these verses in the "Nirvana Sutra":

: _ja. 諸行無常: _ja. 是生滅法: _ja. 生滅滅已: _ja. 寂滅為楽

which translates into

:"That everything is impermanent":"Is the way all things come into and go out of existence.":"It is when these processes are over":"That we see true happiness in nirvana."

The above in Japanese is read

:"Shogyōmujō":"Zeshōmeppō":"Shōmetsumetsui":"Jakumetsuiraku" .

References

See also

* Ametsuchi No Uta (an earlier pangram)
* Japanese literature

External links

* A portion of [http://home.catv.ne.jp/ff/erital/audioroom/kaori/kaorimp3/CutIroha.mp3 "the Iroha song"] from the album "kaori" (香) by Eri Sugai (菅井えり)
* [http://www.sljfaq.org/w/Iroha sci.lang.japan FAQ on the origin of kana ordering]
* [http://carlsensei.com/classical/index.php/text/view/191 Other translations of the poem]
* [http://eloise.cocolog-nifty.com/rodoku/2006/11/irohauta.html Reading of "Iroha Uta" at "Japanese Classical Literature at Bedtime"]