HomeClassics / Iroha UtaMochizuki →
CLASSICS — BEYOND THE HYAKUNIN ISSHU

Iroha Uta

“The Iroha Song”Source: Iroha — the pangram poem (attr. Kūkai, Heian period)
色は匂へど 散りぬるを
我が世誰ぞ 常ならむ
有為の奥山 今日越えて
浅き夢見じ 酔ひもせず
Iro wa nioedo chirinuru o
waga yo tare zo tsune naran
ui no okuyama kyō koete
asaki yume miji ei mo sezu
Colors are fragrant, yet they scatter and fall —
who in this world of ours could last forever?
Today I cross the deep mountains of being;
no more shallow dreams, no more drunken haze.
Iroha Uta jacket art

Music Video

ミュージックビデオ

The Story

歌のものがたり
The Iroha is a miracle of composition from the mid-Heian period: a poem that uses each of the forty-seven kana letters exactly once, traditionally attributed to the monk Kūkai and used for a thousand years to teach writing itself. Beneath the wordplay lies the Buddhist truth of impermanence — every color that blooms must scatter — sung not as grief but as clear-eyed acceptance. Our song reads it as a story of rebirth: because everything passes, this one moment can burn bright, and we cross the deep mountains of being back toward our true selves.

Lyrics

歌詞
Japanese

咲き誇る花も いつかは散りゆく

匂い立つ色も 風にさらわれて

この世界に生きる 誰ひとりとして

「常ならむ」もの 持ってはいない

それでも今日 有為の奥山を越えて

ひとつまた ひとつと

迷いの先へ 歩いてゆく

浅き夢は見じ もう揺らがない

酔いもせず まぼろしに惑わされない

散りぬるを 知っているからこそ

この一瞬を 強く生きてゆける

匂へど散る その色のままに

誰かと交わす 言葉も約束も

形あるものは いつか姿を変えて

それでも確かに ここにあった意味を

胸の奥に 刻んでゆこう

今日もまた 有為の奥山を越えて

ひとつまた ひとつと

本当の自分へ 還ってゆく

色は匂へど 散りぬるを

我が世誰ぞ 常ならむ

有為の奥山 今日越えて

浅き夢見じ 酔ひもせず

浅き夢は見じ もう惑わない

酔いもせず うつし世の幻に

散りぬるを 受け入れたその先で

この一瞬が 永遠になる

匂へど散る その色のままに

English

Even flowers in full bloom will someday fall

Even their fragrant colors are swept away by the wind

No one who lives in this world

holds anything that lasts forever

Yet today, I cross the deep mountains of life

one step, and then another

walking on, beyond my doubts

No more shallow dreams — I will not waver now

Unclouded, undeceived by any illusion

Because I know that all things scatter and fade

I can live this very moment with all my heart

Fragrant, yet falling — just as those colors are

The words and promises we share with someone

all things with form will someday change their shape

Still, the meaning that was surely here

I will carve it deep within my heart

Again today, I cross the deep mountains of life

one step, and then another

returning to my true self

The colors are fragrant, yet they scatter and fall

who in this world of ours could last forever?

The deep mountains of life — today I cross them

no shallow dreams, no drunken haze

No more shallow dreams — I am no longer lost

Unclouded by the illusions of this fleeting world

Beyond the place where I embraced that all things fade

this single moment becomes eternity

Fragrant, yet falling — just as those colors are

All Classics Share on 𝕏 Mochizuki →