As summer fades in Japan,
nights are starting to feel cool enough for a light jacket.
Leaves begin to change colour,
and the air grows quiet — with a touch of gentle solitude.
In this season when we feel “transition（移ろい）”,
flowers bloom and then fall, and everything changes.
From this autumn scene, let’s meet an old Japanese poem: 「いろは歌（いろはうた）」 (Iroha poem).
「いろは」 is not only an order of letters.
It also carries the Japanese heart and a way of seeing life — expressed in beautiful, simple words.
In Japanese, 「いろは」 is a very old term.
Before today’s “あ・い・う・え・お（a‑i‑u‑e‑o）” order existed,
people used the sequence 「いろはにほへと……」 (iroha nihoheto …).
This is called 「いろは順（いろはじゅん）」 (iroha order).
Note
We use plain language throughout this article.
Special historical terms are briefly explained later in “用語メモ（Glossary）”.
「いろは順」 is said to have formed in the Heian period.
It grew out of the poem 「いろは歌（いろはうた）」 (Iroha),
which contains every kana exactly once.
Over time, the sequence came to be used for sorting as well.
Up to the Edo period and beyond, even official materials —
dictionaries, documents, laws, and school lists — often used iroha order.
From the late Meiji era,
the 「五十音順（ごじゅうおんじゅん）」 (gojūon order) spread widely.
Because it arranges by pronunciation “あ・い・う・え・お（a‑i‑u‑e‑o）”,
people found it easier to learn and to look things up.
After World War II, schools, dictionaries, and public offices
mostly switched to gojūon order.
Still, iroha order did not disappear completely.
Iroha order used to organise dictionaries and legal texts.
Traces of it remain, for example in clause numbering.
You can still find iroha order in everyday life in Japan:
Law and clause numbering
Example: after 「第1条」「第2条」「第3条」 (Article 1, 2, 3),
you may see 「第3条のい」「第3条のろ」 etc.
This is a method to insert new clauses between existing ones.
Class or group names at school
Example: 「い組」「ろ組」「は組」 (Class i, ro, ha).
Old elementary schools often used this sequence for classes.
Music
Alongside “Do Re Mi”, Japanese pitch names are 「ハ・ニ・ホ・ヘ・ト・イ・ロ」 (Ha‑Ni‑Ho‑He‑To‑I‑Ro).
Terms like 「ハ長調」 (Ha major) come from this system.
This “イロハ” is still used together with solfège.1
Traditional charts and lists
Seen in sumo rankings, martial‑arts grades, and older dictionaries.
Buddhism began in India,
and spread across many parts of Asia.
Roughly speaking, there were two routes:
one southward (to places like Sri Lanka and Thailand),
and one northward (through China and the Korean Peninsula) to Japan.
What reached Japan is called 「大乗仏教（だいじょうぶっきょう）」 (Mahāyāna Buddhism).
It values the teaching “let us live so that all people can be saved”.
In Japan, Buddhist ideas met nature and poetry,
and were expressed in calm, beautiful language as in the Iroha.
At the core of the Iroha is 「無常（むじょう）」 (impermanence):
everything changes; nothing stays the same forever.
花は咲（さ）いても、いつか散（ち）る。
(Flowers bloom, and still they will one day fall.)
人も生きて、やがて年をとり、亡（な）くなる。
(People live, grow old, and eventually pass away.)
この世（よ）のすべては、いつも少しずつ変わっています。
(All things in this world are always changing, little by little.)
This view traces back to Buddhism.
In Mahāyāna as received in Japan, the teaching is
“accept change and live the present with care”.
That quiet heart is present in the Iroha.
The Iroha also says, “do not fear change（変化）”.
Even if flowers fall, new ones bloom.
Precisely because things end, we can treasure the present.
「今を生きる」
(Live this moment.)
This is a deeply valued idea in Japanese culture.
You can feel it in 「茶道（さどう）」 (sadō, tea ceremony) and 「俳句（はいく）」 (haiku) as well.
This spirit of 「調和（ちょうわ）」 (harmony)
connects to a way of living that avoids conflict with people and nature
and seeks balance.
The Iroha also teaches: “do not make yourself look great”.
People change, and power or honour do not last long.
Therefore we do what is before us with care,
and live with gratitude.
「浅（あさ）き夢みじ、ゑひもせず」
(Do not indulge in shallow dreams, nor be intoxicated by delusion.)
This view influenced later Japanese literature and poetry,
and even everyday greetings and ways of speaking.
The Buddhist ideas behind the Iroha
are also cherished in many Asian countries —
Thailand, China, Korea, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and more.
Teachings like “all things change” and “care for inner peace” are shared.
So for many learners in Asia,
reading the Iroha may feel somehow familiar.
Languages differ, but the heart’s root is shared.
The Iroha uses all 47 kana exactly once — a “perfect pangram” in kana.
It has been used as material for penmanship, calligraphy, and reading aloud.
It arose where Buddhist thought met a Japanese sense of nature.
Up to the Meiji era, “いろは順（iroha order）” was standard in schools, laws, and dictionaries.
Traces of iroha order remain in today’s legal clauses and musical terms.
For Japanese learners, 「いろは」 is a beautiful doorway to the roots of the language.
Like the seasons turn, language and culture keep moving, little by little.
This autumn, let the Iroha be a gentle way to taste Japanese language and culture.
