Kanji Dictionary Publishing Society

The Kodansha Kanji Synonyms Guide

Editor in Chief: Jack Halpern

Published February, 2018

The Kodansha Kanji Synonyms Guide is a new type of reference work that enables intermediate and advanced learners to deepen their understanding of how kanji synonyms are used in contemporary Japanese. Based on the author's world renowned The Kodansha Kanji Dictionary, this new work serves as the first ever bilingual kanji thesaurus, and offers complete guidance on the precise distinctions between characters of similar meaning, referred to as kanji synonyms.

The Kodansha Kanji Synonyms Guide offers complete guidance on the precise distinctions between characters of similar meaning, referred to as kanji synonyms. Since a proper understanding of the meanings of each character is essential for the effective mastery of the Japanese vocabulary, this is of considerable benefit to the serious student. “Characters” here refers mostly to single characters (one kanji possibly followed by kana) that function mostly as word elements (components of compound words), rather than to independent words.

Based on a systematic approach and a firm theoretical foundation, this work enables users to quickly find characters from their meanings, then study those meanings in contrast to other characters that share the same basic concept but differ, often subtly, in meaning. It thus serves as a powerful learning aid because it clearly shows the differences and similarities between closely related kanji. This is achieved in four ways:

1. The alphabetically-arranged group headwords, representing the shared concept for each synonym group, show how the group members resemble each other.
2. The synonym keywords show at a glance how the group members differ from each other.
3. The character meanings show in greater detail the distinctive features of each group member.
4. The many compound words illustrate how each kanji functions (mostly) as a word element.

It is important to note that the core meanings and character meanings serve as a practical guide to kanji usage because they are based on actual occurrences, and because they are illustrated by many compound words. These are drawn from the author’s kanji dictionaries, such as The Kodansha Kanji Dictionary, while avoiding the historical and archaic meanings often found in traditional kanji dictionaries.

The new approach to the study of kanji presented here motivates the learner to explore the nuances of closely related characters by studying them together, rather than as isolated units. This helps the learner better understand their distinctive features, while stimulating a desire to learn. It also provides the educator and scholar with a valuable source of reference data for creating learning materials.

An iOS version is also available.

Kanji Integrated Tools

KKUG is the latest addition to Kanji Integrated Tools (KIT), a series of computer-edited dictionaries and software applications for the effective study of kanji. The use of the latest computational lexicography techniques ensures that all KIT dictionaries and applications are tightly integrated and of consistent quality. To date, the following dictionaries have been published:

1	New Japanese-English Character Dictionary	NJECD	Kenkyusha	1990	Japanese Domestic Edition
2	New Japanese-English Character Dictionary	NJECD-NTC	NTC	1993	International Edition
3	New Japanese-English Character Dictionary	NJECD-EB	Nichigai Associates	1995	Electronic Book Edition
4	The Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary	KALD	Kodansha International	1999	Learner's Edition
5	The Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary	KALD-ED	CASIO	2007	Electronic Dictionary Edition
6	Japanese-Romanian Gakushū Kanji Dictionary	KALD-RM	POLIROM	2008	Romanian Edition
7	The Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary for iOS	iKALD	The CJK Dictionary Institute, Inc.	2012	iOS Edition
8	The Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary: Revised and Expanded	KKLD	Kodansha USA	2013	Revised Learner's Edition
9	The Kodansha Kanji Dictionary: Revised and Expanded	KKD	Kodansha USA	2013	revised and expanded
10	The Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary: Revised and Expanded for iOS	iKKLD	The CJK Dictionary Institute, Inc.	2013	iOS Edition
11	The Kodansha Kanji Learner’s Dictionary	aKKLD	The CJK Dictionary Institute, Inc.	2014	Android edition of KKLD
12	The Kodansha Kanji Usage Guide	KKUG	Kodansha USA	2015	First edition
13	The Kodansha Kanji Usage Guide for iOS	iKKUG	The CJK Dictionary Institute, Inc.	2015	iOS edition of KKUG
14	The Kodansha Kanji Synonyms Guide	KKSG	Kodansha USA	2018	first edition
15	The Kodansha Kanji Synonyms Guide for iOS	iKKSG	The CJK Dictionary Institute, Inc.	2018	iOS edition of KKSG