# Iroha (いろは)
**Iroha** (いろは) is a Japanese pangram poem, the *iroha uta* (いろは歌), that uses each of the 47 kana in use in the mid-[Heian period](https://www.edgepedia.org/heian-period) exactly once, in seven-five meter, and whose character order served as Japan's standard kana ordering until the [Meiji era](https://www.edgepedia.org/meiji-era).[1](https://www.mnavi.net/irohauta/) • [2](https://ccn.jp/terakoya/kokugo-01.html) The name comes from its first three syllables, いろは (i-ro-ha).[3](https://ja.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E3%81%84%E3%82%8D%E3%81%AF)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Form | 47 distinct kana, each used once, arranged in seven-five (七五調) meter[1](https://www.mnavi.net/irohauta/) |
| Full text | 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[2](https://ccn.jp/terakoya/kokugo-01.html) |
| Oldest attestation | The *Konkōmyō Saishō Ōkyō Ongi* (金光明最勝王経音義), copied in 1079, written in man'yōgana[4](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E3%81%84%E3%82%8D%E3%81%AF%E6%AD%8C-32577) |
| Traditional authorship | Attributed to Kōbō Daishi (Kūkai), an attribution rejected by modern scholarship[4](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E3%81%84%E3%82%8D%E3%81%AF%E6%AD%8C-32577) |
| Practical use | The iroha order arranged dictionaries, numbering, and documents from the medieval period until it was replaced by gojūon order in the Meiji era[5](https://unchiku.sennen-kokoroe.jp/archives/620) |
| Surviving uses | Theater seat rows and the numbering of legal articles[6](https://www.haradaeigo.com/nihonbunka/w/iroha.html) |
## The text and its meaning
The poem reads, in historical orthography:[2](https://ccn.jp/terakoya/kokugo-01.html)
> 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
Read with kanji, it begins 色は匂へど散りぬるを, "though color is fragrant, it scatters," and continues as a meditation on impermanence: who in this world of ours is lasting, and having crossed the deep mountain of transient existence (有為, *uwi*, the Buddhist *samsara*), one shall dream no shallow dream and get drunk no more.[2](https://ccn.jp/terakoya/kokugo-01.html) The poem is read as a compact expression of the Buddhist view of impermanence (無常観), which is one reason tradition came to credit Kūkai, Japan's most famous monk, with composing it.[7](https://kotoba.ninjal.ac.jp/qa/yokuaru/qa-72/)
Because it is written in historical kana usage, the text includes kana no longer used today, such as ゑ and ゐ.[8](https://note.com/chirunote2021/n/nb1a2677537ff)
## Dating and authorship
The poem cannot be dated to Kūkai's time (early 9th century). The *Konkōmyō Saishō Ōkyō Ongi* of 1079 preserves the oldest surviving text, written in man'yōgana ([Chinese characters](https://www.edgepedia.org/chinese-characters) used phonetically), and the poem's failure to distinguish the kana エ of the a-row from ヱ of the ya-row points to a period after the mid-Heian era, when that sound distinction had been lost.[4](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E3%81%84%E3%82%8D%E3%81%AF%E6%AD%8C-32577)
A narrower window comes from earlier pangram practice. [Minamoto no Shitagō](https://www.edgepedia.org/minamoto-no-shitago)'s *Kuchizusami* (口遊) of 970 records the 48-kana *ametsuchi no kotoba* and the *tai ni uta* (太為仁歌), a 47-kana mnemonic that avoids repetition, but does not mention the iroha.[9](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E4%BC%8A%E5%91%82%E6%B3%A2%E6%AD%8C-436772) The author is unknown.[2](https://ccn.jp/terakoya/kokugo-01.html)
## Use as a learning text
From the late Heian period until the early Meiji era, the iroha served as the model text when children first learned hiragana.[7](https://kotoba.ninjal.ac.jp/qa/yokuaru/qa-72/) In the [Edo period](https://www.edgepedia.org/edo-period) it was the standard reading-and-writing copybook in the terakoya, the temple schools for commoners.[2](https://ccn.jp/terakoya/kokugo-01.html) [Archaeology](https://www.edgepedia.org/archaeology) confirms this classroom use: excavations at the Saikū site, the ancient residence of the Ise priestess, uncovered the oldest known hiragana ink-inscribed pottery bearing the iroha, a dish from the late 11th to the first half of the 12th century, plausibly written by court women as models for local girls.[10](https://www.bunka.pref.mie.lg.jp/saiku/68192036286.htm) • [11](https://www.bunka.pref.mie.lg.jp/saiku/senwa/journal341.html)
## The iroha order
The poem's character sequence, the **iroha order** (いろは順), functioned as Japan's alphabetical order. Muromachi-period dictionaries such as the *Setsuyōshū*, the *Gegakushū* of 1444, and the *Unpo Iroha Shū* of 1548 were all arranged in iroha order.[12](https://shizuoka.repo.nii.ac.jp/record/4347/files/110208001.pdf)
Unlike the gojūon chart, which arranges kana by phonetic regularity (same consonant in a row, same vowel in a column), the iroha is a meaningful poem with no phonological ordering principle, so only the first kana of a word gave a usable lookup hint.[5](https://unchiku.sennen-kokoroe.jp/archives/620) • [12](https://shizuoka.repo.nii.ac.jp/record/4347/files/110208001.pdf) The modern gojūon dictionary order was established by Ōtsuki Fumihiko's *Genkai*, compiled from 1875, completed in 1886, and published 1889 to 1891, which abandoned iroha order and arranged about 39,000 words by gojūon.[5](https://unchiku.sennen-kokoroe.jp/archives/620)
The order survives in daily life: theater seat rows and the numbering of legal articles still follow it.[6](https://www.haradaeigo.com/nihonbunka/w/iroha.html)
## Related mnemonics
The iroha was not the only kana pangram. The earlier *ametsuchi no kotoba* covered 48 kana and reflected a period when the e-sounds of the a-row and ya-row were still distinguished; the *tai ni uta* was a 47-kana non-repeating text praised by Minamoto no Shitagō in 970.[9](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E4%BC%8A%E5%91%82%E6%B3%A2%E6%AD%8C-436772) The iroha outlasted them as the standard, and its first three syllables gave Japanese the word いろは, meaning the ABCs or rudiments of any subject.[3](https://ja.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E3%81%84%E3%82%8D%E3%81%AF)
## References
1. [いろはにほへと（いろは歌）の全文と現代語訳, mnavi](https://www.mnavi.net/irohauta/)
2. [いろは歌の意味と全文｜四十七文字を一度ずつ使い切る歌, CCN 寺子屋](https://ccn.jp/terakoya/kokugo-01.html)
3. [いろは, ウィクショナリー日本語版](https://ja.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E3%81%84%E3%82%8D%E3%81%AF)
4. [いろは歌とは？ 意味や使い方, コトバンク](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E3%81%84%E3%82%8D%E3%81%AF%E6%AD%8C-32577)
5. [あいうえおを作ったのは誰か｜空海説は俗説, うんちくの泉](https://unchiku.sennen-kokoroe.jp/archives/620)
6. [いろは歌を英語で言うと？｜Iroha Poem, ハラダ英語](https://www.haradaeigo.com/nihonbunka/w/iroha.html)
7. [平仮名は誰が作ったのですか, 国立国語研究所 ことば研究館](https://kotoba.ninjal.ac.jp/qa/yokuaru/qa-72/)
8. [いろはにほへと……｜ちる, note](https://note.com/chirunote2021/n/nb1a2677537ff)
9. [伊呂波歌（イロハウタ）とは？ 意味や使い方, コトバンク](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E4%BC%8A%E5%91%82%E6%B3%A2%E6%AD%8C-436772)
10. [斎宮跡から日本最古の「いろは歌」ひらがな墨書土器が出土しました, 斎宮歴史博物館](https://www.bunka.pref.mie.lg.jp/saiku/68192036286.htm)
11. [斎宮千話一話, 斎宮歴史博物館](https://www.bunka.pref.mie.lg.jp/saiku/senwa/journal341.html)
12. [国語辞書史に関する研究 (静岡大学)](https://shizuoka.repo.nii.ac.jp/record/4347/files/110208001.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Literature and written works › Creative written works and worlds › Poetry works › Poetry by nation and language › Chinese and Japanese poetry*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 18, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 18, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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