The was a circa 1245 CE

Japanese dictionary have a history that began over 1300 years ago when Japanese Buddhist priests, who wanted to understand Chinese sutras, adapted Chinese character dictionaries. Present-day Japanese lexicographers are exploring computerized editing and electronic di ...

Chinese characters Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji' ...

. The "Mirror of Characters" title echoes the (circa 900 CE) ''

Shinsen Jikyō The is the first Japanese dictionary containing native ''kun'yomi'' "Japanese readings" of Chinese characters. The title is also written 新選字鏡 with the graphic variant ''sen'' ( 選 "choose; select; elect") for ''sen'' ( 撰 "compile; comp ...

'', and the internal organization closely follows the (circa 1100 CE) '' Ruiju Myōgishō''. This ''Jikyōshū'' dictionary exists in three editions of 3, 7, and 20 fascicles (''kan'' 卷 "scroll; volume"). The anonymous 3-fascicle edition, also known as the ''Jikyōshō'' (字鏡抄, "Mirror of Characters, Annotated"), is presumably the original version. The 7-fascicle edition has a postscript dated 1245 that mentions the Buddhist monk Ogawa Shōchō 小川承澄 (1205-1281 CE), but does not clarify his editorial role. The 20-fascicle edition records the

Kamakura Period The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle bet ...

court noble Sugawara no Tamenaga (菅原為長, 1158-1246 CE) as the dictionary editor. He likely compiled it at the end of his life, in the

Kangen was a after ''Ninji'' and before '' Hoji.'' This period spanned the years from February 1243 to February 1247. The reigning emperor was . Change of era * ; 1243: The new era name was created to mark an event or a number of events. The previou ...

era (1243-1247 CE). Head entries in the ''Jikyōshū'' give the ''

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

'', rime group (from the ''

Guangyun The ''Guangyun'' (''Kuang-yun''; ) is a Chinese rime dictionary that was compiled from 1007 to 1008 under the patronage of Emperor Zhenzong of Song. Its full name was ''Dà Sòng chóngxiū guǎngyùn'' (, literally "Great Song revised and expan ...

''), ''

on'yomi are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are still used, along with the subsequent ...

'' Sino-Japanese reading (usually in Chinese ''

fanqie ''Fanqie'' ( zh, t= 反切, p=fǎnqiè) is a method in traditional Chinese lexicography to indicate the pronunciation of a monosyllabic character by using two other characters, one with the same initial consonant as the desired syllable and one w ...

''), and ''

kun'yomi are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are still used, along with the subsequent ...

'' Japanese reading in ''

katakana is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji and in some cases the Latin script (known as rōmaji). The word ''katakana'' means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana characters are derived fr ...

''. "Compared to the last preceding similar dictionary, the twelfth-century ''Ruiju Myōgishō''," writes Bailey, "it is a greatly Japanized work." The primary

collation Collation is the assembly of written information into a standard order. Many systems of collation are based on numerical order or alphabetical order, or extensions and combinations thereof. Collation is a fundamental element of most office fili ...

of the ''Jikyōshū'' is by logographic

radical Radical may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics *Radical politics, the political intent of fundamental societal change *Radicalism (historical), the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe and ...

, with the characters under a given radical further organized semantically. The 7-fascicle edition has 12 headings (''mon''

門 Radical 169 or radical gate () meaning "gate" or "door" is one of the 9 Kangxi radicals (214 radicals in total) composed of 8 strokes. In the ''Kangxi Dictionary'', there are 246 characters (out of 49,030) to be found under this radical. , the ...

), which the 20-fascicle version reduces to 9. These 12 semantic headings are clearly adapted from the first 13 of the 21 headings in the ''

Iroha Jiruishō The is a 12th-century Japanese dictionary of ''Kanji'' ("Chinese characters"). It was the first Heian Period dictionary to collate characters by pronunciation (in the ''iroha'' order) rather than by logographic radical (like the ''Tenrei Banshō M ...

''. They begin with ''Tenshō'' (天象 "astronomical phenomena") and end with ''Jiji'' (辞字 "miscellaneous 1-character words"), with one change: ''Iroha Jiruishō'' headings 8 and 9, ''Inshoku'' (飲食 "foods, drinks") and ''Zatsubutsu'' (雑物 "miscellaneous things"), are combined into ''Jikyōshū'' heading 8 ''Zatsubutsu''. The 20-fascicle ''Jikyōshū'' edition likewise combines ''Inshoku'' and ''Zatsubutsu'' into heading 8 and omits ''Iroha Jiruishō'' headings 5, 10, 11, and 12. The modern Mojikyo computer font software includes character data from the ancient ''Shinsen Jikyō'' and ''Jikyōshū''.

References

Further reading