Iroha

A mouse mat with an iroha pattern (in tategaki

) The iroha ordering is an ordering of kana based around a Buddhist poem which contains each of the Japanese syllables exactly once, a pangram. This ordering is still used today, and it is not unusual to see items numbered i, ro, ha where English would use A, B, C, etc. However, in dictionaries and other lists of words, it is much less common nowadays than the more regular gojūon ordering.

It is also the basis of the Wabun code, the Japanese version of Morse code.

There are actually several different versions of the ordering corresponding to different versions of the poem. The most common one is :{| 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 (n) The appendix of the Nelson kanji dictionary gives the following explanation of the poem underlying this ordering: :Colours are fragrant :But they fade away. :In this world of ours none lasts forever. :Today cross the high mountain of life's illusions, :And there will be no more shallow dreaming, :no more drunkenness. To get that meaning, however, you need to read it as :Iro wa nioedo :Chirinuru o :Waga yo tare zo :Tsunenaran :Ui no okuyama :Kyoo koete :Asaki yume miji :Ei (yoi) mo sezu.

External links

Pages from the setsuyōshū (節用集), a seventeenth century dictionary, in i ro ha ordering.

Pages from a Japanese-English dictionary in iroha ordering

References

post by Kouji Ueshiba on iroha ordering.