Product Code Database
The is a general-purpose Japanese dictionary published by Shogakukan in 1995 and 1998. It was designed as an "all-in-one" dictionary for native speakers of Japanese, especially high school and university students.
The 1st edition of the (1995) included over 220,000 entries and 6000 all-color illustrations and photographs. The chief editor 1916–2001 was also chief editor of the directly competing dictionary. Other editors included 池上秋彦, 金田弘, and 杉崎一雄. Shogakukan also released a CD-ROM version (1997) of the 1st edition.
The "enlarged and revised" edition (1998) was more of a revision than an enlargement, with 2978 pages versus 2938 in the 1st edition. Both editions claim "over 220,000 ".
Some similarities between these dictionaries are obvious: Matsumura's 2nd edition (1995) added some full-color illustrations, including a chart of 168 color names (色の名) and his (1995) included a color chart of 358 (カラーチャート色名).
The is not wholly derivative of the and has some notable differences. improvements include visually appealing designs, more contemporary usage examples, and some helpful layout features. For instance, special columns indicate usage notes for topics including synonyms, suffixes, and even uncommon kanji pronunciations ( and .
The database versions are marked for April, August, December of every year, with updates delivered approximately every 4 months.
This dictionary seems in many ways a clone of . Not only is the same Tokyo University professor listed as editor – though it is important to note that the names appearing on the covers of Japanese dictionaries often have little relation to the people who actually did the work; one case in point being , even the most recent editions of which list as editor one 新村出 Shinmura Izuru, who has been dead since 1967 – but the definitions in follow closely those of as well. It also follows 's practice of putting the contemporary meanings first in its definitions. The two chief differences I've noticed are that has color pictures while uses line drawings – a rather obvious difference – and that the example sentences and phrases in are more often typical of the contemporary language rather than citations from classical literature. This latter point makes my first choice when I am writing Japanese and I want to check how words are used in context.
The bibliographer and cataloguer Yasuko Makino also described the :
Over 220,000 words including archaic words, technical terms, geographical and personal names, and other proper names as well although focus is on modern words, are in this easy-to-use dictionary. Numerous examples of usage, explanation of delicate difference in the usage of each words, abundant inclusion of synonyms, and 6,000 all-color illustrations are a few of its strengths. One of the unique features of this dictionary is a listing of last elements, which functions as reverse-order dictionary. Includes detailed color charts. This works as Japanese–Japanese, Chinese–Japanese, Classical, , and encyclopedia.
This depiction echoes Shogakukan's blurb that the is an "all-in-one, multi-functional dictionary" (オールインワン多機能辞典).
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