--- In qalam@yahoogroups.com, "Peter T. Daniels" <grammatim@...> wrote:

> The iroha poem has 50 characters. The kana chart doesn't.

The only version of the poem I could find had 47 kana signs, though I
thought the meter should demand 48. The basic kana charts showed 48 or
46, depending on whether they included <we> amd <wi>. They include the
syllabic nasal, whereas the poem doesn't. Does your version of the
poem contain *<yi>, *<ye> and *<wu> in addition to <i>, <e> and <u>?