The ''Irop'a'' is a Korean textbook of the

Japanese language is the principal language of the Japonic languages, Japonic language family spoken by the Japanese people. It has around 123 million speakers, primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language, and within the Japanese dia ...

published in 1492. It is a source on the phonology of

Late Middle Japanese was a stage of the Japanese language following Early Middle Japanese and preceding Early Modern Japanese. It was a period of transition in which the language shed many of its archaic features and became closer to its modern form. The period ...

. The ''Irop'a'' is named in official Korean lists of textbooks for Japanese dated 1430, 1469 and 1707. It was presumably revised after the introduction of the

Hangul The Korean alphabet is the modern writing system for the Korean language. In North Korea, the alphabet is known as (), and in South Korea, it is known as (). The letters for the five basic consonants reflect the shape of the speech organs ...

alphabet in 1446. Only one copy of the ''Irop'a'' is known today, an edition printed in 1492. This copy was in the collection of Kanbara Jinzō, president of

Kagawa University is a national university in Takamatsu, Kagawa, Japan. Kagawa university has its roots in a vocational school founded in 1874. The university was established in 1949 as a national university after the consolidation and reorganization of the Kagawa ...

, and first publicized in 1959. It is now held by the university library. The work begins with four forms of the Japanese syllabary, each in the order of the ''

Iroha The is a Japanese poem. Originally the poem was attributed to Kūkai, the founder of Shingon Buddhism, but more modern research has found the date of composition to be later in the Heian period (794–1179). The first record of its existence ...

'' poem:

hiragana is a Japanese language, Japanese syllabary, part of the Japanese writing system, along with ''katakana'' as well as ''kanji''. It is a phonetic lettering system. The word ''hiragana'' means "common" or "plain" kana (originally also "easy", ...

, two forms of ''mana'' (cursive

Chinese characters Chinese characters are logographs used Written Chinese, to write the Chinese languages and others from regions historically influenced by Chinese culture. Of the four independently invented writing systems accepted by scholars, they represe ...

), and

katakana is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji and in some cases the Latin script (known as rōmaji). The word ''katakana'' means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana characters are derived fr ...

. Each hiragana syllable is accompanied by a transcription of its sound using Hangul. The hiragana syllabary is followed by Hangul transcriptions of 16 Japanese words, represented by Chinese characters: 'capital', 'above' and the numerals 1 to 10, 100, 1000, 10,000 and 100,000,000. The reasons for including the first two characters are unclear. Following the syllabaries is a brief summary of the Japanese writing system, written in Chinese. The bulk of the text is in Japanese without translation or annotation, consisting of model sentences and descriptions of Japanese people and customs.

Notes

References

Works cited * * * * * * {{refend Works by Joseon people Late Middle Japanese texts 15th-century books