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 d ...

Chinese characters Chinese characters are logographs used Written Chinese, to write the Chinese languages and others from regions historically influenced by Chinese culture. Of the four independently invented writing systems accepted by scholars, they represe ...

. 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; com ...

'', 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 History of Japan, Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the G ...

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 previ ...

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

kanji are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, 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 and are ...

'', rime group (from the ''

Guangyun The ''Guangyun'' (''Kuang-yun''; ) is a Chinese rhyme 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 ...

''), ''

on'yomi , or the Sino-Japanese vocabulary, Sino-Japanese reading, is the reading of a kanji based on the historical Chinese pronunciation of the character. A single kanji might have multiple ''on'yomi'' pronunciations, reflecting the Chinese pronuncia ...

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

fanqie ''Fanqie'' ( zh, t= 反切, p=fǎnqiè, l=reverse cut) 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 ...

''), and ''

kun'yomi is the way of reading kanji characters using the native Japanese word that matches the meaning of the Chinese character when it was introduced. This pronunciation is contrasted with ''on'yomi'', which is the reading based on the original Chi ...

'' 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 fi ...

of the ''Jikyōshū'' is by logographic

radical Radical (from Latin: ', root) may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics *Classical radicalism, the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe and Latin America in the 19th century *Radical politics ...

, with the characters under a given radical further organized semantically. The 7-fascicle edition has 12 headings (''mon'' 門), 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 are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanes ...

''. 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