Kagakushū
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The , alternatively read as ''Gegakushū'', was a 1444
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 ...
of
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' ...
arranged into semantic headings. The title alludes to Confucius' self-description in the ''
Lunyu The ''Analects'' (; ; Old Chinese: '' ŋ(r)aʔ''; meaning "Selected Sayings"), also known as the ''Analects of Confucius'', the ''Sayings of Confucius'', or the ''Lun Yu'', is an ancient Chinese book composed of a large collection of sayings a ...
'': 下学而上達 "My studies lie low, and my penetration rises high." The ''Kagakushūs colophon is dated 1444 CE, but does not name the dictionary's editor except for obscurely mentioning ''Tōroku Hanō'' (東麓破衲 "East-foothills Torn-robes"; possibly Hadō). Scholars presume this was a
Muromachi Period The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by t ...
Buddhist priest because ''Tōroku'' is a variant name for ''Tōzan'' (東山 "East Mountain"), which is the location of
Kennin-ji is a historic Zen Buddhist temple in Kyoto, Japan, and head temple of its associated branch of Rinzai Buddhism. It is considered to be one of the so-called Kyoto ''Gozan'' or "five most important Zen temples of Kyoto". History Kennin-ji was ...
(建仁寺), the head temple of the
Sōtō Sōtō Zen or is the largest of the three traditional sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism (the others being Rinzai and Ōbaku). It is the Japanese line of the Chinese Cáodòng school, which was founded during the Tang dynasty by Dòngshān L ...
school of
Zen Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...
. The ''Kagakushū'' was one of the first Japanese dictionaries designed for common people rather than intelligentsia. In the lexicographical evolution of Japanese dictionaries, Nakao explains how
ference books took a significant further step towards Japanese, and the dictionaries, which had been almost exclusively employed by scholars, priests, literati, and the learned minority of the country, consequently reached a wider audience and began to be used as practical guides to reading and writing. Moreover, the developing technology of printing enabled the literate public to obtain handy and practical dictionaries quite cheaply. ''Kagakushu'' (1444), produced in two volumes and edited by a monk in Kyoto, was a sort of Japanese language dictionary with encyclopedic information. It served as a textbook on Chinese characters and was reissued many times, each time with further additions.
This anonymous Japanese dictionary, in two fascicles (''kan'' "scroll; volume"), defines some 3000 words. 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 ...
'', Japanese readings 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 ...
'' to the right, definition, usage notes, and occasionally etymology.
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 ...
for the entries involves 18 semantic headings, as shown below. Compared with the semantic categorizations in earlier Japanese dictionaries such as the ''
Wamyō Ruijushō The is a 938 CE Japanese dictionary of Chinese characters. The Heian period scholar Minamoto no Shitagō (源順, 911–983 CE) began compilation in 934, at the request of Emperor Daigo's daughter. This ''Wamyō ruijushō'' title is abbreviated ...
'' or ''
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 Bansh ...
'', these simplified 18 in the ''Kagakushū'' are easier to understand. Many ''Kagakushū'' editions have an appendix entitled ''Tenkaku-shōji'' (点画小異字 "characters differing only by one stroke") that lists pairs like ''ya'' "smelt; cast" and ''chi'' "govern; regulate". The origins of the ''Kagakushū'', like the ''
Setsuyōshū The was a popular Muromachi period Japanese dictionary collated in ''iroha'' order and subdivided into semantic categories. The title word ''setsuyō'' means "reduce usage; economize" and alludes to the ''Lunyu'' (compare the '' Kagakushū''). "Co ...
'', are associated with an early type of Japanese textbook used in Buddhist ''
Terakoya were private educational institutions that taught reading and writing to the children of Japanese commoners during the Edo period. History The first ''terakoya'' made their appearance at the beginning of the 17th century, as a development from ...
'' private schools, the ''ōraimono'' (往来物, "correspondences; model letter book; copybook"). According to Don Bailey:
The ''Kagakushū'', although only sparsely annotated, was in fact intended to serve as a small encyclopedia and textbook as well as a dictionary; the compiler, apparently realizing that many of the ''ōrai'' then in use were too detailed, cumbersome, and tome-like, condensed and abstracted from these texts in order to produce a reference tool containing minimally essential information and Chinese characters. That he succeeded is attested by the fact that over thirty copies of the ''Kagakushū'' have survived from the Muromachi period alone.


References


External links


下学集
first page of ''Kagakushū'', Tsukuba University

''Kagakushū'' entry for 楝
Chinaberry ''Melia azedarach'', commonly known as the chinaberry tree, pride of India, bead-tree, Cape lilac, syringa berrytree, Persian lilac, Indian lilac, or white cedar, is a species of deciduous tree in the mahogany family, Meliaceae, that is native ...
,
Tomitaro Makino image:Makino Tomitaro.jpg, 200px, Tomitaro Makino was a pioneer Japanese botanist noted for his taxonomic work. He has been called "Father of Japanese Botany". He was one of the first Japanese botanists to work extensively on classifying Japane ...
*Manuscript scans at
Waseda University Library The collections of Waseda University Library (早稲田大学図書館; ''Waseda Daigaku Toshokan'') form one of the largest libraries in Japan. Established in 1882, they currently hold some 5.6 million volumes and 46,000 serials. History The W ...

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kagakushu Japanese dictionaries Late Middle Japanese texts