Onkochishinsho

The was the first Japanese dictionary to collate words in the now standard ''gojūon'' order. This Muromachi Period dictionary's title uses a Classical Chinese four-character idiom from the ''Lunyu'': "The Master said, "If a man keeps cherishing his old knowledge, so as continually to be acquiring new, he may be a teacher of others." (tr. Legge).

The preface to the ''Onkochishinsho'' is dated 1484 (Bunmei era), and gives the compiler's name as Ōtomo Hirokimi (大伴広公). It notes this little-known lexicographer was a ''Shajinshi'' (社神司 "Earth God Official") in ''Shiragi'' (新羅 "ancient Korean kingdom of Silla"). Kaneko reads this fourth character as an honorific (公 "duke; lord") and identifies him as Ōtomo Taihiro 大伴泰広.

When Ōtomo chose to collate the ''Onkochishinsho'' in the 10 by 5 grid ''gojūon'' "fifty sounds" order (''a-i-u-e-o''), he went against centuries of Japanese dictionary tradition using the poetic ''iroha'' order (''i-ro-ha-ni-ho''). For example, the circa 1469 CE ''Setsuyōshū'' predecessor collates words primarily in ''iroha'' order, and secondarily under semantic headings.

Contents

The ''Onkochishinsho'' enters about 13,000 words, collated first by ''gojūon'' and then by 12 subject classifications (''mon'' 門), shown below.

The ''Onkochishinsho'' preface credits these 12 categories to the 1341–1346 CE ''Kaizō ryakuin'' (海蔵略韻 "Outline of Rimes repared atKaizō emple), compiled by the Rinzai Zen priest and scholar Kokan Shiren. However, since the received ''Kaizō ryakuin'' edition has 14 ''mon'' headings, Bailey concludes either it originally had 12, or the preface means Kokan's earlier 1306–1307 CE ''Jubun inryaku'' (聚分韻略 "Rime Outline, Classified and Explained") that has these same 12 headings. Both of Kokan's Sino-Japanese dictionaries were primarily collated by 106 Chinese rime table categories, and secondarily by subject headings. While continuing the Muromachi dictionary tradition of semantic categories for secondary ordering, like the ''Jubun inryaku'' and ''Setsuyōshū''; the ''Onkochishinsho'' principally collated word entries with well-known Japanese ''gojūon'' instead of ''iroha'' ordering or arcane Chinese rimes.

Although many Japanese dictionaries published after the ''Onkochishinsho'' continued to use bookish ''iroha'' instead of user-friendly ''gojūon'' order, it eventually became the dominant lexicographic arrangement.

References

External links

海蔵略韻, 五山版
rare edition ''Kaizō ryakuin'', Waseda University Library

rare 1481 edition ''Jubun inryaku'', National Diet Library

{{Dictionaries of Japanese

Japanese dictionaries
Late Middle Japanese texts
Muromachi-period works