I was walking around town today and saw a guy wearing a shirt that said ヱヰワ. I'm pretty sure I was only able to read the first one because of my love for Yebisu (ヱビス). Seeing the shirt prodded me to do a little research into the old system of Japanese kana and I found this website:
http://www32.ocn.ne.jp/~gaido/kana/kana0e.htm
If you think Japanese is too complicated now, then check this out.
(The Ebisu beer museum in Tokyo is pretty great. It's in a nice area and the samples are super cheap. Worth it if you have a day to kill in Tokyo and nothing else to do.)