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The Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary
The Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary answers the urgent need for an easy-to-use kanji dictionary compact enough to be easily carried around, yet detailed enough to satisfy the practical needs of the beginning and intermediate learner.
Its basic goal is to give the learner a thorough understanding of kanji by providing instant access to a wealth of useful information on the meanings, readings, and compounds. Normally, the learner must memorize numerous compounds as unrelated units. A unique feature of this dictionary that overcomes this difficulty is the core meaning, a concise keyword that defines the dominant sense of each character, followed by detailed character meanings and numerous compounds that clearly show how thousands of building blocks are combined to form countless compound words.
Another unique feature is the System of Kanji Indexing by Patterns (SKIP), an indexing system that enables the user to locate characters as quickly and as accurately as in alphabetical dictionaries.
Modern linguistic theory has been effectively integrated with sophisticated information technology to produce the most useful kanji learner's dictionary ever compiled. For the first time, learners have at their fingertips a wealth of information that is linguistically accurate, easy to use, and carefully adapted to their practical needs.
FEATURES
o 2,230 entry characters, including all the kanji in the Joyo and Jinmei Kanji lists
o 41,000 senses for 31,300 words and word elements show how each character contributes to the meanings of compounds
o 1,200 homophones with core meanings explain differences between closely related characters
o 386 variant forms used in prewar literature and in names
o 1,945 stroke order diagrams show you how to write each kanji stroke by stroke
o 7,200 character readings, including name readings
o Over 2,000 cross-references and five appendixes give instant access to a mass of useful reference data
Its basic goal is to give the learner a thorough understanding of kanji by providing instant access to a wealth of useful information on the meanings, readings, and compounds. Normally, the learner must memorize numerous compounds as unrelated units. A unique feature of this dictionary that overcomes this difficulty is the core meaning, a concise keyword that defines the dominant sense of each character, followed by detailed character meanings and numerous compounds that clearly show how thousands of building blocks are combined to form countless compound words.
Another unique feature is the System of Kanji Indexing by Patterns (SKIP), an indexing system that enables the user to locate characters as quickly and as accurately as in alphabetical dictionaries.
Modern linguistic theory has been effectively integrated with sophisticated information technology to produce the most useful kanji learner's dictionary ever compiled. For the first time, learners have at their fingertips a wealth of information that is linguistically accurate, easy to use, and carefully adapted to their practical needs.
FEATURES
o 2,230 entry characters, including all the kanji in the Joyo and Jinmei Kanji lists
o 41,000 senses for 31,300 words and word elements show how each character contributes to the meanings of compounds
o 1,200 homophones with core meanings explain differences between closely related characters
o 386 variant forms used in prewar literature and in names
o 1,945 stroke order diagrams show you how to write each kanji stroke by stroke
o 7,200 character readings, including name readings
o Over 2,000 cross-references and five appendixes give instant access to a mass of useful reference data
1008 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 1999
29 people are currently reading
313 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
January 27, 2013
I've plumbed this dictionary inside and out for years alongside other kanji dictionaries in my studies. For starting out, this book is an essential tool; however, when it comes to studying readings and the like, I feel there are better resources out there. What this Kodansha Kanji dictionary for learners does do exceptionally well is provide a physical resource that is easy to look-up kanji in while reading something written in Japanese or studying. I would argue that this shouldn't necessarily be your resource for kanji study, so much as it enables you to read Japanese texts and study more advanced materials with greater efficiency than you would otherwise be able to do. It is one of the best laid out and easiest to use kanji dictionaries out there, and the typography is such that long hours of looking at it won't wear out your eyes -- which is an all too important though often overlooked or unthought of quality in a study dictionary. It's not that pricy, especially when compared to other dictionaries, and as a quick look-up resource for the beginning to intermediate learner -- and even the advanced learner who needs to just check that one thing real quick or try and get vocabulary for certain kanji from a reliable source that lists in-use words rather than simply every word associated with each kanji -- it's worth having on your resources/study shelf; a superb tool for university students and maybe even more so for the autodidact crowd.
October 18, 2024
Thanks to a growing interest in Japan over the past few years, and especially to a current obsession with the sport of sumo, I have another long term project in the works: learning Japanese!
This will of course be a slow process so I thought I would record my new Japanese reference library now since I very greatly doubt I will actually be finished with the books any time soon.
My rating for each book will be based on my first tentative peeks inside the covers. First impressions can be important! I will try to make individual comments about each book, even though I am still merely getting acquainted with them all, and then later on when I have progressed a bit, I can come back and add more comments.
Oct 18, 2024
I am more than a little intimidated by this one, but I know I will get more familiar with it as I work on this project. There is a ton of information available. My page magnifier will be very helpful here.
This will of course be a slow process so I thought I would record my new Japanese reference library now since I very greatly doubt I will actually be finished with the books any time soon.
My rating for each book will be based on my first tentative peeks inside the covers. First impressions can be important! I will try to make individual comments about each book, even though I am still merely getting acquainted with them all, and then later on when I have progressed a bit, I can come back and add more comments.
Oct 18, 2024
I am more than a little intimidated by this one, but I know I will get more familiar with it as I work on this project. There is a ton of information available. My page magnifier will be very helpful here.
November 19, 2007
As a reference (not a primary learning source), this book is excellent.
Perhaps the thing I love most about this book is that it shows combinations with kanji that are not in the first position of the word. Many, if not all, native dictionaries only show words with the initial kanji for examples, which can be frustrating given the way they are combined in Japanese and take on some unexpected readings. Perhaps it is for this reason alone that I still use this dictionary even after studying kanji extensively for 2 years.
Perhaps the thing I love most about this book is that it shows combinations with kanji that are not in the first position of the word. Many, if not all, native dictionaries only show words with the initial kanji for examples, which can be frustrating given the way they are combined in Japanese and take on some unexpected readings. Perhaps it is for this reason alone that I still use this dictionary even after studying kanji extensively for 2 years.
June 9, 2022
This has a really attractive layout with pleasing fonts that are very nearly big enough to read. The kanji are presented in calligraphy, pen, and print versions, and there's a stroke-by-stroke guide for each character. Entries cover the full span of meanings, weighted by frequency of use and importance, with an effort to tie all the various meanings together under a single—sometimes awkward—umbrella. Entries include compound words that use the kanji in question, including words where it doesn't come first, which is somewhat of a novelty for kanji dictionaries. Example words or phrases are given in kanji (and hiragana) with the readings in romaji, then they're translated into English. Entries might include readings only used for names, plus unapproved readings if they're common enough you'd need to know them. It doesn't indicate parts of speech as often as I'd like, and it doesn't seem to indicate when something is usually written in kana because you gotta keep 'em coming back to the Kanji Dictionary, ね.
Lots of great reference material in the back matter including sections on pronunciation, romanization, radicals, and charts of the most frequently used kanji and radicals. It has three indexes for the kanji, by reading, radical, and SKIP pattern.
System of Kanji Indexing by Pattern (SKIP) is a new way to index kanji that doesn't require knowing any radicals or readings, though you still have to be able to count strokes, but it cross references the most common mistakes. It classifies kanji by left/right, top/bottom, enclosed, or solid based on their construction, and the inside front cover has a nice cheat sheet with a range of examples that cover most of the options for each pattern. This will probably be great to use once I get the hang of it.
Like Kodansha's Furigana Japanese Dictionary, this paperback is a pleasing size and identical to the dictionary so they'll look great together on a shelf. If...I had any shelf space free. Right now they're making a very pleasing stack.
Lots of great reference material in the back matter including sections on pronunciation, romanization, radicals, and charts of the most frequently used kanji and radicals. It has three indexes for the kanji, by reading, radical, and SKIP pattern.
System of Kanji Indexing by Pattern (SKIP) is a new way to index kanji that doesn't require knowing any radicals or readings, though you still have to be able to count strokes, but it cross references the most common mistakes. It classifies kanji by left/right, top/bottom, enclosed, or solid based on their construction, and the inside front cover has a nice cheat sheet with a range of examples that cover most of the options for each pattern. This will probably be great to use once I get the hang of it.
Like Kodansha's Furigana Japanese Dictionary, this paperback is a pleasing size and identical to the dictionary so they'll look great together on a shelf. If...I had any shelf space free. Right now they're making a very pleasing stack.
September 7, 2023
This is by far the best resource I have ever had for learning Japanese. It is not just a dictionary but a resource for knowing how to learn kanji, including which kanji to focus on, when kanji are taught in Japanese schools, and breakdowns of usage. The only problem is that the method of looking up kanji is so good, it can easily be a crutch that prevents a student from learning to use a full dictionary. This book does not, of course, contain everything, and as a student of Japanese levels up, one could easily get stuck with this volume alone. But that is not a complaint of this book alone, but of any such resource.
tl;dr - if you are serious about learning Japanese, get this book
tl;dr - if you are serious about learning Japanese, get this book
October 18, 2024
This is not a book you read (well, it's certainly not a book I'd read), but it's a wonderful resource and exactly what I was hoping for, which is to find a quick way to look up unfamiliar Kanji--quicker than Jisho.org's radical look-up, which is what I've been using.
It's organized so that you first identify whether the structure of the Kanji is left->right, or top->bottom, or enclosed (by a box, or a canopy, etc.), or just it's own thing (e.g. 大). That's certainly easily done! Then it's organized by the number of strokes for the first element, and these radicals/primitives (whatever you call them) are listed on the edge of each page, so you can easily see what section you're in, and then by the number of strokes for the remaining element(s).
Even if I'm not great at counting, it's easy to check section 2-8, and then section 2-9 (aha, it's 9 strokes, silly me), and really so far I haven't spent more than 30 seconds looking anything up. I've spent as long as 10 minutes on Jisho.org before giving up before!
The entries themselves are clear and well-written—a nice touch is the necessary Kanji are printed in red, and the minor entries (e.g. rare, or only used for people's names, say) are in black, so you can feel justifiably relieved when you look one up and it's black, and a bit irked at yourself for not having learned (yet) a red one!
(5* = amazing, terrific book, one of my all-time favourites, 4* = very good book, 3* = good book, but nothing to particularly rave about, 2* = disappointing book, and 1* = awful, just awful. As a statistician I know most books are 3s, but I am biased in my selection and end up mostly with 4s, thank goodness.)
It's organized so that you first identify whether the structure of the Kanji is left->right, or top->bottom, or enclosed (by a box, or a canopy, etc.), or just it's own thing (e.g. 大). That's certainly easily done! Then it's organized by the number of strokes for the first element, and these radicals/primitives (whatever you call them) are listed on the edge of each page, so you can easily see what section you're in, and then by the number of strokes for the remaining element(s).
Even if I'm not great at counting, it's easy to check section 2-8, and then section 2-9 (aha, it's 9 strokes, silly me), and really so far I haven't spent more than 30 seconds looking anything up. I've spent as long as 10 minutes on Jisho.org before giving up before!
The entries themselves are clear and well-written—a nice touch is the necessary Kanji are printed in red, and the minor entries (e.g. rare, or only used for people's names, say) are in black, so you can feel justifiably relieved when you look one up and it's black, and a bit irked at yourself for not having learned (yet) a red one!
(5* = amazing, terrific book, one of my all-time favourites, 4* = very good book, 3* = good book, but nothing to particularly rave about, 2* = disappointing book, and 1* = awful, just awful. As a statistician I know most books are 3s, but I am biased in my selection and end up mostly with 4s, thank goodness.)
August 13, 2011
I haven't been using this dictionary a lot because I got a wordtank quite quickly afterwards, but I love it still, even though it got me into trouble for not having some of the kanji that were in my homework (hence the wordtank). I have no trouble at all looking things up, and the meanings are short and straight to the point. Maybe not the best dictionary for translating or deep text analysis, but most certainly a great dictionary for, well, 'busy people'.
(On a completely random note, I love how it lays in your hand. Some dictionaries can be an absolute hell to hold.)
(On a completely random note, I love how it lays in your hand. Some dictionaries can be an absolute hell to hold.)
April 13, 2007
Another Kanji dictionary, but Halpern tries to entirely re-invent the Kanji categorisation system, which means some lookups make you say "Brilliant! Two seconds!" and others make you say "Why the #$%@ is it there?! How was I supposed to know to divide it there?".
But it contains a wealth of example phrases, some so spectacularly subtle that even native Japanese speakers turn their heads quizzically when confronted with them.
Kanji is always exciting with Jack.
But it contains a wealth of example phrases, some so spectacularly subtle that even native Japanese speakers turn their heads quizzically when confronted with them.
Kanji is always exciting with Jack.
March 29, 2022
This book arrived today, and I think it will be much more practical than the kanji dictionary already on my shelf. The text is clear and there are detailed explanations and readings. It also looks easier to search than my previous kanji dictionary, which will be a huge help to me as a beginner. Need to start using it, but I certainly think it was worth buying at this first review.
October 28, 2008
This dictionary is the most amazing dictionary I've ever used for Japanese, as its set-up is easy to follow and the kanji is very simple to look up. If you ever need a Japanese kanji dictionary, use this one.
June 22, 2010
I've been using this book as a reference off and on for about six years now. The one drawback it has (and this is understandable considering...) is that it sometimes doesn't have the kanji one might need. However, it should be noted that I was in Japan when I was using this book and it does contain over 2,000 of a possible 10,000 kanji characters.
February 12, 2016
The book does a well enough job providing the reader with a dictionary that fits its function. The problem today is that any student of Japanese is provided with numerous far more convenient ways to look up the meaning of kanji and its compounds. In short, this type of book is quickly becoming obsolete.
March 21, 2025
Another excellent Kanji resource. The amount of words using an example kanji to aid in learning readings was especially helpful. Probably my favourite Kanji dictionary.
January 20, 2023
This book is an excellent resource and has always been my go-to for translating the kanji characters.
Beginners just learning kanji may be turned off because it's not what we westerners think of as a dictionary, but the learning curve is not steep. If you are looking for a "dictionary" where you can look up the romaji> or a phoentic spelling and find out what the word means, that's not this book*. Instead, it's for translating the character itself, then once located, perusing the list of combinations of characters for the meaning.
First, it divides the characters into four categories depending on the placement of the radicals (uber-basically the "parts") of the kanji, then by number of strokes in each "defined" area. The latter is generally where most people (myself included) get tripped up, but this book anticipates all the stroke-counting errors and provides cross-references.
Example: I see a particular word with the first character that has a "box with line" shape above a "stacked cross" shape--its two radicals. Its radical placement is top/bottom, which is category "2". The "box with line" consists of four strokes, making it "4". The bottom portion consists of five strokes, making it "5", of course. I open the dictionary, go to the section where 2-4-5 starts, and check the margin to locate the top radical, then flip through and voila, there's my kanji: "star". Within the entry, there are over a dozen words (sets of characters) and I can peruse these entries until I locate the word with the rest of the characters, and have my translation.
This edition's flaw is that it is far from including all kanji (there are tens of thousands. What a volume that would be!). But as there are only 2100 or so "official" kanji, this book is more than adequate with 2230 entries.
Overall, I've found it invaluable and keep it right at hand for translation, and refer to it daily.
*You can, provided you have some experience with Japanese, do a lookup by the sound of the word/first character by looking through the On-Kun index at the back of the volume.
Beginners just learning kanji may be turned off because it's not what we westerners think of as a dictionary, but the learning curve is not steep. If you are looking for a "dictionary" where you can look up the romaji> or a phoentic spelling and find out what the word means, that's not this book*. Instead, it's for translating the character itself, then once located, perusing the list of combinations of characters for the meaning.
First, it divides the characters into four categories depending on the placement of the radicals (uber-basically the "parts") of the kanji, then by number of strokes in each "defined" area. The latter is generally where most people (myself included) get tripped up, but this book anticipates all the stroke-counting errors and provides cross-references.
Example: I see a particular word with the first character that has a "box with line" shape above a "stacked cross" shape--its two radicals. Its radical placement is top/bottom, which is category "2". The "box with line" consists of four strokes, making it "4". The bottom portion consists of five strokes, making it "5", of course. I open the dictionary, go to the section where 2-4-5 starts, and check the margin to locate the top radical, then flip through and voila, there's my kanji: "star". Within the entry, there are over a dozen words (sets of characters) and I can peruse these entries until I locate the word with the rest of the characters, and have my translation.
This edition's flaw is that it is far from including all kanji (there are tens of thousands. What a volume that would be!). But as there are only 2100 or so "official" kanji, this book is more than adequate with 2230 entries.
Overall, I've found it invaluable and keep it right at hand for translation, and refer to it daily.
*You can, provided you have some experience with Japanese, do a lookup by the sound of the word/first character by looking through the On-Kun index at the back of the volume.
March 2, 2010
Excellent dictionary! Offers a lot of insight into Kanji common and obscure. I really like to flip through it and learn another Kanji or Kanji combination word. That said, I think the proof of this book will come when I go to Japan. Looking forward to it!
October 11, 2013
This has been one of the most helpful things I have ever had when studying Japanese. It is chock-full of good examples, readings for each character, and it includes readings for names. It is incredibly easy to look up new characters once one gets used to the SKIP method employed by the authors.
April 28, 2008
This Kanji dictionary is very in-depth and has been a great resource when reading and learning Japanese.
March 28, 2013
Immensely useful.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews