The , or the Sankoku (三国) for short, is a general-purpose

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 ...

. It is closely affiliated with another contemporary dictionary published by

Sanseidō is a Japanese publishing company known for publishing dictionaries and textbooks. Notable publications Dictionary * ''Daijirin'' : Japanese dictionary * ''Sanseido Kokugo Jiten'' : Japanese dictionary * ''Shin Meikai kokugo jiten The , com ...

, the ''

Shin Meikai kokugo jiten The , commonly called the ''Shinmeikai'' or affectionately the , is a popular Japanese dictionary published by Sanseidō. They also publish the analogous '' Sanseido Kokugo Jiten'' dictionary, a lexicographical sister that shares several of the sa ...

''. The ''Sanseidō kokugo jiten'' has been revised about once a decade. *1960, 1st edition *1974, 2nd edition *1982, 3rd edition *1992, 4th edition *2001, 5th edition *2007, 6th edition *2014, 7th edition Japanese

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

and

lexicographer Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries. * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries. * Theoreti ...

Kenbō Hidetoshi (見坊豪紀, 1914-1992) was chief editor of the first four editions. Among his prominent coeditors,

Kindaichi Kyōsuke Kindaichi ( ja, 金田一) is a surname and place name in Japan. Real people with the surname *Kyōsuke Kindaichi (1882–1971): Linguist specializing in the Ainu language * Haruhiko Kindaichi (1913–2004): Linguist and professor emeritus at T ...

(金田一京助, 1882-1971), his son

Kindaichi Haruhiko Haruhiko Kindaichi (金田一春彦, ''Kindaichi Haruhiko''; April 3, 1913 – May 19, 2004) was a Japanese linguist and a scholar of Japanese linguistics (known as ''kokugogaku''). He was well known as an editor of Japanese dictionaries and his ...

(金田一春彦, 1913-2004), and Yamada Tadao (山田忠雄, 1916-1996) began with the 1st edition; Shibata Takeshi (柴田武) with the 2nd; Hida Yoshifumi (飛田良文) with the 4th; and

Ichikawa Takashi may refer to: Places *Ichikawa, Chiba, a city in Chiba, Japan **Ichikawa Gakuen (Ichikawa Junior and Senior High School), a large private boys and girls school in Moto-kita-kata, Ichikawa, Chiba * Ichikawa, Hyogo, a town in Hyōgo, Japan *Ichikawa ...

(市川孝) began editing with the 5th edition ''Sanseidō kokugo jiten''. Several of these lexicographers worked together on a predecessor Sanseido dictionary, the ''

Meikai kokugo jiten is a private university in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan. History The university was founded in 1970, and obtained its present name in 1988. Programs The university's School of Dentistry is located in Sakado, Saitama is a city in Saitama Prefect ...

'' (明解国語辞典). Kenbō began working with its chief editor Kindaichi Kyōsuke on the 1st edition (1943) and was an editor on the 2nd edition (1952). In 1959, Sanseido placed Kenbō in charge of the ''Sanseidō kokugo jiten'', and subsequently put Yamada in charge of the comparatively larger ''Shin Meikai kokugo jiten'' (1972 … 2005). The 1st edition ''Sanseidō kokugo jiten'' (1960) had 57,000

headword In morphology and lexicography, a lemma (plural ''lemmas'' or ''lemmata'') is the canonical form, dictionary form, or citation form of a set of word forms. In English, for example, ''break'', ''breaks'', ''broke'', ''broken'' and ''breaking'' a ...

s, while the 2nd-5th editions increased the numbers to 62,000 (1974), 65,000 (1982), 73,000 (1992), and 76,000 (2001) respectively. Emphasizing contemporary usage is one of ''Sanseidō kokugo jitens most significant contributions to modern Japanese

lexicography Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries. * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries. * Theoretica ...

. Many traditional Japanese dictionaries copy usage examples from earlier dictionaries, often taken from

Classical Japanese language The classical Japanese language ( ''bungo'', "literary language"), also called "old writing" ( ''kobun''), sometimes simply called "Medieval Japanese" is the literary form of the Japanese language that was the standard until the early Shōwa pe ...

sources. When Kenbō Hidetoshi began compiling the 1st edition, he started collecting Japanese word usages from newspapers, magazines, and broadcasts, which he would write on cards. By the time he died, he had recorded some 1,400,000 usage example cards. The ''Sanseidō kokugo jiten'' is known for including

neologism A neologism Greek νέο- ''néo''(="new") and λόγος /''lógos'' meaning "speech, utterance"] is a relatively recent or isolated term, word, or phrase that may be in the process of entering common use, but that has not been fully accepted int ...

s, ''

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 ...

loanword A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because th ...

s, and informal expressions.

Tom Gally Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in '' Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

, a Japanese translator and lexicographer, gives this evaluation:

Like the other Sanseidou dictionaries, this one has a strong contemporary emphasis and shows the influence of its late editor's renowned citation collecting. The entries include many colloquialisms that were missed or ignored by other lexicographers.

References

External links

三省堂国語辞典第7版
Sanseido's homepage for the 7th edition ''Sanseidō kokugo jiten'' {{Dictionaries of Japanese

Sanseido Kokugo Jiten The , or the Sankoku (三国) for short, is a general-purpose Japanese dictionary. It is closely affiliated with another contemporary dictionary published by Sanseidō, the '' Shin Meikai kokugo jiten''. The ''Sanseidō kokugo jiten'' has been re ...

Lexicography Sanseido books