Iroha is an older Japanese poem with deep connections to Japanese culture and religion. There are a number of different versions – the original cannot be read by the vast majority of modern Japanese readers. It has been translated in a number of languages but the translations lose much of the nuance and meaning.
Although its scent still lingers on
the form of a flower has scattered away
For whom will the glory
of this world remain unchanged?
Arriving today at the yonder side
of the deep mountains of evanescent existence
We shall never allow ourselves to drift away
intoxicated, in the world of shallow dreams.
Abe, Ryuichi (1999). The Weaving of Mantra: Kûkai and the Construction of Esoteric Buddhist Discourse. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-11286-6.
This poem has solid links to a significant number of AOKs:
- The arts
- Religious knowledge systems
- History
- The human sciences
- Ethics
Researching the poem will show the important ways the poem has connections to the different AOKs above. Different essays could successfully argue that any of the individual AOKs or pairs of AOKs are “most useful.”