A quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
This is called a pangram, which is trying to make sentence by using every letter of the alphabet at least once. The fewer times same letters are used in it, the greater the pangram it will be. In the previous sentence, A, E, O, U and R are used more than once.
There is a similar thing in Japan but the difference from a pangram is that you cannot use the same letter twice. Every Japanese knows Iroha Uta, the greatest one. The poem was written around the 10th or 11th century. It had been regarded as a work by a famous priest in the 8th century but apparently it was not.
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 ゑいもせす
Did you find that every Japanese letter from あ to を is used exactly once in the poem?
It's written in ancient Japanese and include letters we don't use nowadays.
It might be a little hard to understand, so I'll try to show the meaning.
色は匂へど 散りぬるを
Although material things like flowers bloom, they perish.
我が世誰ぞ常ならむ
Nothing in the world stays the same.
有為の奥山 今日越えて
Deeds of human beings are a deep mountain, I'll hike over it now.
浅き夢見じ酔ひもせず
(The material world is vanity like a dream. People who don't know that are drunk).
I won't see the silly dream nor get drunk.
Maybe a few people know, there's another type of Iroha Uta. Though it was written just about 100 years ago, it's no longer famous.
とりなくこゑす ゆめさませ
みよあけわたる ひんかしを
そらいろはえて おきつへに
ほふねむれゐぬ もやのうち
鳥啼く声す 夢覚ませ
I heard the song of birds, now it's time to wake up.
見よ明け渡る 東を
Look at the East side, which is becoming bright.
空色映えて 沖つ辺に
The sky reflecting in the open water is splendid.
帆船群れゐぬ 靄の中
There are sailing boats in the fog.
The former one was based on the Buddhism aspect and the author tried to squeeze spiritual concepts in the limited space he had but this one is just describing scenery. I think it still takes talent but it's not superior to the former one.
Thanks to MauricioEiji, Nancy, and Vanillaplant's correction.
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