Japanese Pangram - いろは歌(iroha uta)

One of the famous poems as well as a pangram made in about the 11th century that uses all the Japanese characters (except ん(n) - since it wasn’t invented yet).
The most Japanese learn this poem at a junior high school. You can impress Japanese people when you know this!? Let’s learn now!

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The original pangram in the historical Japanese orthography

いろはにほへと ちりぬるを
(ìrohanihoheto chirìnùruwo)

わかよたれそ つねならむ
(wàkayotareso tsùnenaràmu)

うゐのおくやま けふこえて
(ùwino’okùyama kèfukoètè)

あさきゆめみし ゑひもせす
(àsakiyumishi wèhimosesu)

... Did you manage to find all the characters?😁 You might have seen 2 characters that are NOT on the usual Hiragana chart:
ゐ - pronounced as “wi”
ゑ - pronounced as “we”
These two are completely gone after the late 1940s and changed to be read without W sound - ゐ(wi) = い(i) and ゑ(we) = え(e).
You might still have a chance to see them on some people’s names.

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The pangram with kanji and proper way of reading (in a pre-modern way)

色は匂へど 散りぬるを
(irò wa ni(h)ò(h)edo chirìnùru (w)o)
: Even if the colours (= flowers) smell, (they’ll) scatter away
... In the ancient orthography, when you see はひふへほ(ha hi h/fu he ho) in between/ after another characters, they’re read as わいうえお(wa i u e o). Therefore 匂へど(niHOHEdo) actually sounds 匂えど(niOEdo)
... Voiced dots are added on some characters (E.g. ど for 匂へど, the original one is にほへと) when required for a better understanding.
These voiced symbols were not invented when this poem was made, the people had to notice how it should be read by the context...

我が世誰ぞ 常ならむ
(wàga yo tàre zo tsùne naràm)
: Who would be everlasting in my (= our) world?
... 誰(dàre): "who" used to be read たれ(tàre).
... む(mu) at the end used to be read as ん(n/m) since the character ん wasn’t invented yet.

有為の奥山 今日超えて
(ù(w)i no okúyama kyòu koètè)
: climbing over a deep mountain full of vicissitudes today
... "-e(f)u" was pronounced as “-you”
E.g. けふ(kefu) = きょう(kyou): today, しませう(shimaseu) = しましょう(shimashou): Let’s do~

浅き夢見じ 酔ひもせず
(àsaki yumè miji (w)è(h)i mo sèzu)
: (I shall) neither have shallow dreams nor be intoxicated

#japanese #pangram

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Actual meaning :
Those colourful flowers with sweet scents will have scattered away. This world is not everlasting for anyone. If I could climb over the deep mountain called “the world of vicissitudes” - “the world without infinity" today, I would neither have meaningless dreams nor lose myself in this world.