Iroha-uta in hiragana:
1 いろは にほへと ちりぬるを
2 わかよ たれそ つねならむ
3 うゐの おくやま けふこえて
4 あさき ゆめみし ゑひもせす
or by using kanji :
1 色は 匂へど 散りぬるを
2 我が世 誰ぞ 常ならむ
3 有為の 奥山 今日越えて
4 浅き 夢見じ 酔いもせず
The meaning is
1 the prosperity,
which seems so beautiful, will disappears oneday.
(every beautiful flower
falls someday)
2 who can make this world
ever lasting?
(humans can not live
forever,that’s nature’s law)
3 Life on earth is full of
ups and downs and problems as big as uncrossable mountain get in the
way.
4 Don’t get drunk by the
finally always disappearing dream of life
(by achieving
enlightment, you can get a peaceful soul and you don’t have to have
an empty dream anylonger)
This has been
translatedoriginally from a ancient chienese poem, that had a
slightly different meaning, but the same general idea:
1 諸行無常
2 是生滅法
3 生滅滅已
4 寂滅為楽
There
are several interpretations of this poem. One of them sees the
“iroha-uta” as a cryptograph. When aristocracy prosperd in
Japan, there were a lot of heavy political conflicts. How can you get
a connection with the powerful, how can you win against rivals. There
were plots everywhere. There was a teacher of a prince, who was fell
into such a plot and was exiled to an island as a heavy criminal. The
teacher supposed wrote this poem “iroha-uta” with the hidden
cryptograph, which that he was innocenct. He could even be the famous
“waka”- poet Hitomaro Kakinomoto from that time, who wrote a lot
of wonderful waka-poems.
Let’s decipher this
message!
Take every 7th
letter and read them together:
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
とかなくてしす
to ka na ku te shi su
or in kanji:
咎なくて死す
It ssays “ no guilt,
die”: I must die although I ‘m innocenct”
This message could be
written by Hitomaro Kakinomoto.
“ I must die on
this lonely island. I may not see you (his family and friends)
anymore.
But I have to say at least
before I die, that I was always innocent. Please understand my
lament. I’m writing this poem for you and for later generations.
Hopefuly, someone will be able to decipher what I really tried to say
with this poem one day.
Omake:
Iroha-uta in rouma-ji
I ro ha hi ho he to chi ri
nu ru wo
wa ka yo ta re so tsu ne
na ra mu
u yi no o ku ya ma ke fu
ko e te
a sa ki yu me mi shi ye hi
mo se su
