How is the Iroha poem usually pronounced?


I have read on [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroha) that the Iroha
poem has a modern version with updated hiragana and stuff.

However, it seems that most times people recite the poem (as in, every time
I've seen/heard someone recite it), they use the old pronunciation.

If it so happens that I am called upon to recite Iroha, should I use the old
or new pronunciation?

As a related side question: if I want to refer to the poem by name, should I
call it "i ro wa" by the modern pronunciation, or "i ro ha" by the old
pronunciation?

Edit: To clarify: old as in "iro ha nihoheto", new as in "iro wa nioedo".




Actually, what you mentioned are not _old_ and _new_ pronunciations. Both are
**contemporary** ones.

The "irohanihoheto..." is reading its letter names, while "irowa nioedo..."
one, as a meaningful poem. The difference is much clearer if you try the same
thing in English alphabet, say, "Cwm fjord bank glyphs vext quiz." (a perfect
pangram from [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangram)), where
"iroha..." corresponds to "see-dublyoo-em-..." reading, and "irowa..." is
"koom-fyord-...".

Each letter in Japanese syllabary was supposed to have the same reading as the
syllable itself when it was created, but due to [a series of phonological
changes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_language#History), the
grammatically valid reading no longer matches the alphabetical one. As for
lack of voiced consonants, it's said that today's voiced consonants are
remnants of [prenasalized
sounds](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prenasalized_consonant) in Classical era,
which they had no means to transcribe at that time.

* * *

**P.S.**  
The real "archaic" pronunciation around the 11th century would be like:

> Irofa nifofendo tirinuruwo  
>  Wanga yo tarenjo tunenaramu  
>  Uwino okuyama kefu ko(y)ete  
>  Ashaki yume mishi wefimo shenju

There are also some fun videos reading [the Tale of Genji in Classical
pronunciation](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jEWDiPlxXU).

**P.P.S.**  
What your "a modern version with updated hiragana" reminded me of was this
(incorporating ん):

> 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

Which won the 1st prize of the "new pangram" contest held by a newspaper in
1903.

