INTRODUCTION
The Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary answers the urgent need for aneasy-to-use kanji dictionary, compact enough to be easily carried around,
yet detailed enough to satisfy the practical needs of the serious learner.

Its basic goal is to give the learner a thorough understanding of how kanji
are used in contemporary Japanese, by providing instant access to a wealthof useful information on the meanings, readings, and compounds for themost frequently used kanji.
A unique and valuable feature is the core meaning, a concise keyword thatdefines the most dominant meaning of each character, which is followed byin-depth meanings that clearly show how a few thousand basic building
blocks are combined to form countless compound words.
Clear, complete, and accurate character meanings, illustrated by numerous
compounds and examples, are grouped around the core meaning in a logically structured manner that allows them to be perceived as an integrated
unit. In addition, guidance is provided for distinguishing between easily
confused characters, such as homophones.
Another unique feature is the System of Kanji Indexing by Patterns (SKIP), asystem that enables the user to locate characters as quickly and as accurately as in alphabetical dictionaries. Since the system can be learned in avery short time and is easy to use, this dictionary is an extremely convenient
learning tool.
Modern linguistic theory has been effectively integrated with sophisticatedinformation technology to produce a powerful tool that can be used by
beginning and intermediate learners with equal ease. For the first time,learners of Japanese have at their fingertips a wealth of information on kanji
that is linguistically accurate, easy to use, and carefully adapted to theirpractical needs.
Thanks to these and other features, this is the most useful kanji-English
learner's dictionary ever compiled.
most all characters may be pronounced according to their Chinese derived on reading,or one of several native Japanese kun readings,
and each reading may have numerous meanings. Moreover, since many words are pronounced the same but written differently(homophones), the Japanese writing system iscomplex and requires considerable effort tolearn.

THE STUDY OF KANJI
The Japanese writing system is composed oftwo phonetic syllabaries, called hiragana andkatakana, and thousands of Chinese characters, called kanji. Kanji have three basic properties: form, sound, and meaning. Many characters are of complex shape, some having
more than twenty or even thirty strokes. Al%=come established as a standard reference workand enjoys an excellent reputation amongscholars, educators, and learners of Japanesethroughout the world.

But the effort is well worthwhile. Kanji havethe ability to generate hundreds of thousandsof compound words from a basic stock of afew thousand units. They form a network ofinterrelated parts that function as an integrated system, not as an arbitrary set of disconnected symbols. The few character dictionaries presently available fail to address
systematically that most elusive, yet undoubtedly most important, aspect of kanji: theirmeanings, especially their meanings as wordbuilding elements.

This dictionary incorporates most of thefeatures of its parent work, including core
meanings, detailed character meanings, strokeorder diagrams, cross-references to homophones, numerous compounds and examples,a speedy indexing system, and other features.
It also includes some new features, such ascore meanings for homophones, new entry
characters, the most recent frequency statistics(July 1998), character codes, and color coding
to show relationships between senses.

Although the number of Japanese language
students in the world has been rising at a rapid
pace, effective learning aids for truly masteringkanji have not been available. Never before has
the need been so urgent for a kanji dictionarythat offers a systematic solution to the special
problems faced by the non-Japanese learner.

To achieve these aims, this dictionary differsfrom traditional kanji dictionaries in six important ways:
1. Core meanings convey the most fundamental meaning of each character.
2. In-depth character meanings are arranged
in a manner that shows how they are interrelated.
3. The compounds are classified by meaning
in a way that clearly shows how they areformed from their constituents.
4. The SKIP indexing system makes it easierand faster to locate entry characters.
5. The visually attractive design makes thedictionary extremely user-friendly.
6. The optimal balance has been achieved
between portability and comprehensiveness.

A NEW DICTIONARY APPROACH
The primary goal of The Kodansha Kanji
Learner's Dictionary (KALD) has been set

high: to create a practical tool that enables thelearner to gain an in-depth understanding of
the most frequently used kanji in contemporary Japanese.
Based on a systematic approach and a firm
theoretical foundation, the new work has been
designed to meet in full the specific needs ofbeginning and intermediate learners. We haveavoided the path of least resistance taken byother works; that is, compiling lists of words
and presenting only superficial informationsuch as readings and radicals, while sidestepping the difficult task of presenting accuratecharacter meanings.

The one feature that clearly distinguishes thisdictionarythat puts it in a class of its own
among kanji dictionariesis that it was carefully designed to strike the optimal balance
between two fundamentally conflicting needs:
portability and comprehensiveness.

This is the latest addition to the Kanji Integrated Tools (KIT), a series of dictionaries andlearning aids for mastering the Japanese writing system. This dictionary is based on thefirst installment of the series, the NTC/Kenkyusha New Japanese-English Character
Dictionary (NJECD), which has already be-

On the one hand, it provides the learner withimmediate access to detailed information for
more than 99% of the kanji used in Japanesenewspapers; on the other hand, it is compact&=and light enough to be easily carried around in
one's handbag or briefcase.

lected on the basis of their ability to illustrate the entry character's meaning.

These and other features distinguish this
dictionary as the most in-depth kanji learner's
dictionary ever compiled. This was achieved
by making full use of the most recent advancesin linguistic science, computational lexicography, and electronic publishing technology.

Character readings were selected on the basisof the following criteria:

1. All approved readings (those in the J½y½
Kanji list), and their derivatives when necessary, have been included.
2. Unapproved readings have, in principle,been excluded, except on the occasions
when they are important to learners (e.g.
.7657). (Why such important readings
have been omitted from J½y½ Kanji is amystery.)
3. Common name readings (used exclusivelyin proper names), as well as unapproved orrare readings frequently used in names,
have been included.

COVERAGE
This dictionary offers a detailed treatment of
the meanings and functions of the most frequently used kanji in present-day Japanese,with particular emphasis on contemporary
usage and newspapers. It contains 2230 main
entry characters and approximately 41,000
senses for some 31,300 words, word elements,
and illustrative examples.

In principle, the above criteria ensure that all
high-frequency words and word elements
important to the learner are covered. However,to keep the dictionary from getting too bulky,
the following limitations were applied:

The entries include (1) the 1945 characters in
the official J½y½ Kanji list, which are widelyused in the media and education, (2) the 285
characters in the official Jinmei Kanji list, usedin names, and (3) 578 cross-reference entries.
These cover more than 99% of the most frequently used characters, which is adequate formeeting the needs of the serious learner.

1. Only typical examples of the potentiallyinnumerable compounds formed by affixak½seizumi 'proofreadingtion (e.g.
+ ) are given,completed' fromsince it is easy to infer their meanings.
2. Many nouns are turned into verbs bysuru, into adjectival nouns byadding
na, into adverbs by adding
ni,addingand so on. The part of speech selected wasbased on importance and on its ability toillustrate the entry character's meaning.

Our general approach in selecting compoundwords has been to include the ones mostuseful to the learner, based on the following
criteria:
1. All compounds normally written in kanji
that are listed in Ten Thousand Graded
Japanese Words (),published by Senmon Ky½iku Shuppan
and based on the widely used JapaneseThis policy is sometimes misunderstood bythose who compare dictionaries on the basisof the number of words included. Let there be
no misunderstanding: basically, this is a dictionary of characters, rather than of words.
The primary emphasis has been on completeness in terms of quality, rather than comprehensiveness in terms of quantity; that is, toinclude compounds that directly contribute toan understanding of character meaning.

Achievement Test.

2. High-frequency compounds based onstatistics compiled by The National Language Research Institute in the official survey A Study of Uses of Chinese Charactersin Modern Newspapers.

3. Numerous other compounds useful tointermediate and advanced learners, se'=KANJI DICTIONARY
PUBLISHING SOCIETYtions, such as the Toyota Foundation.
These projects have also attracted the welcome
support of the Japanese government andrelated agencies, including former Prime
Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, The JapanFoundation, the National Council on Educational Reform, The National Language Research Institute, the Society for Teaching
Japanese as a Foreign Language, The NationalLanguage Society of Japan, and the Association for Japanese-Language Teaching.

The New Japanese-English Character Dictionary (NJECD), first published in 1990, required
66 man-years to compile. Upon publication it
became a standard reference work for thestudy of kanji, and has been warmly supported
by eminent Japanese language authorities
around the world. Many scholars pointed outthat the NJECD's many unique features could
be utilized to offer kanji learners and researchers a full range of learning tools tailored totheir needs. The NJECD thus became the firststep in a series of computer-edited dictionaries and applications for the study of kanji,
known as the Kanji Integrated Tools (KIT).

KANJI INTEGRATED TOOLSThe data for KIT dictionaries is derived fromDESK, a comprehensive database that covers
every aspect of Chinese characters in Chinese,
Japanese, and Korean. The use of DESK and of
the latest computational lexicography techniques ensures that all KIT dictionaries aretightly integrated and of consistent quality.

To make KIT a reality, the Kanji Dictionary
Publishing Society (KDPS) was established inlate 1993 as a part of the Institute of ModernCulture at Showa Women's University. TheSociety, headed by Showa Women's University President Professor Kusuo Hitomi, isdirected by the Editorial Committee, which
includes Japanese language education specialists such as Professor Osamu Mizutani, thePresident of the Society for Teaching Japanese
as a Foreign Language, and other eminent
Japanese language scholars. The Society isfunded by the University and other organiza-

KIT derivatives spread over a wide range,
including teaching and learning aids such aslearner's dictionaries, other language editions
such as kanji-German and kanji-Spanish
dictionaries, CAI/CAL courseware, electronic
dictionaries, and so on. To date, the following
dictionaries have been published:

1.

New Japanese-English
Character Dictionary

Kenkyusha

1990

Japanesemarket edition

2.

New Japanese-English
Character Dictionary

NTC

1993

InternationalEdition

3.

New Japanese-English
Character Dictionary

Nichigai Associates

1995

Electronic Book
Edition

4.

The Kodansha
Kanji Learner's Dictionary

Kodansha International

1998

Learner's
EditionIn the next phase, various other dictionaries,
such as the pocket and German editions of thisdictionary, will be published, to be followed bymany other useful learning aids (see the KDPS
website at www.kanji.org for details).

Through our publishing and research activities, we aim to offer a comprehensive solution
to the diverse needs of learners, educators, andresearchers. We invite scholars around theworld to contribute to this ongoing effort.

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