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"Lorem Ipsum" is used as a place holder when creating designs or formatting media that will have actual text and functionality.

Question
I would like to know what the Japanese equivalent is of this (if one exists) and or what ancient Japanese texts can be used in a similar fashion to produce "text that looks like actual text, but isn't understandable to the average viewer". Basically the same as Lorem Ipsum.

Dodzi Dzakuma
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    I found this, but it doesn't look anything like "real" Japanese... http://generator.lorem-ipsum.info/_japanese – ssb Mar 13 '14 at 04:53
  • @ssb Found [this](http://lipsum.sugutsukaeru.jp/index.cgi), but the source texts are not remotely gibberish. – Helix Quar Mar 13 '14 at 05:10
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    I think the whole point of lipsum text is that it looks similar to English without actually being English. I don't know if it would be possible to get the same effect with Japanese since no other languages use the same script, and garbled or ancient Japanese can be visually distracting.. – ssb Mar 13 '14 at 06:07
  • That is true, however (and I might have my etymology wrong, but) English descended from a mix of other languages. Lorem Ipsum is used in English because it looks like English, but it isn't. That means that if you went back far enough, you could get a set of "moder English" that isn't understandable, but looks like English. In my Japanese studies there are works that are really difficult for Japanese people to make sense of. In the question I ask if there's an ancient Japanese text that can be used to achieve this effect. I have found random word generators, but the output can be ちょっと失礼. – Dodzi Dzakuma Mar 13 '14 at 06:52
  • To check microphone, many Japanese say "本日は晴天なり" hon jitsu wa sei ten nari, it is fine today. –  Mar 13 '14 at 07:09
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    Is there a full fledged paragraph for that? – Dodzi Dzakuma Mar 13 '14 at 07:17
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    You may want to consider the famous opening to 平家物語, which most Japanese are forced to memorize in grade school. It is: 祇園精舎の鐘の声、諸行無常の響きあり。沙羅双樹の花の色、盛者必衰の理をあらはす。おごれる人も久しからず。ただ春の夜の夢のごとし。たけき者も遂にはほろびぬ、ひとへに風の前の塵に同じ。 – Dono Mar 13 '14 at 09:19

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Like the site that helix pointed out, dummy text generators will just pick some works and generate text from that. There's not one classic text that almost every designer uses.

The work that this dummy text generator uses by default is "私の個人主義" ("My Individualism") by 夏目漱石 (Soseki Natsume)

Khakionion
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  • There isn't one that is "offically" used, but the point is it has to look like Japanese, but not be understood. A classic work would fit that role. What is a classic work that **could** fit that role? Not the definitive standard, because just like you stated, there isn't one. The the text that @helix pointed out is good, but I can't tell if it's 日本語 or 文字化け. If I'm submitting a sample to a client they might tell me that I've messed up the encoding. That wouldn't be acceptable. – Dodzi Dzakuma Mar 13 '14 at 07:20
  • Okay, then, if that's all that you're looking for, I've put the info from that generator into my answer. – Khakionion Mar 13 '14 at 07:25
  • I wanted to confirm with some of my Japanese friends. They can't make heads or tails of this text. It fits the bill for typesetting! (I tried my self... 無理でした) – Dodzi Dzakuma Mar 14 '14 at 10:00
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    I've seen the Iroha used in this role from time to time, although it's probably not the longest piece available. – Kaji Mar 19 '14 at 12:31