KANJIDIC2.XML - Overview

Introduction

The main documentation of the KANJIDIC2.XML is included in the DTD as comments. This page is just intended as a summary, and may not always be up-to-date.

The KANJIDIC2 file has the 6,355 kanji from JIS X 0208, the 5,801 kanji from JIS X 0212 and the 3,693 kanji from JIS X 0213 (of which all but 952 are also in JIS X 0212).

At the end of the explanation for a number of fields there is a tag with the format [N]. This indicates the leading letter(s) of the equivalent field in the KANJIDIC and KANJD212 files.

The KANJIDIC documentation should also be read for additional information about the information in the file. It also contains information on the history and contributors.

Contents

• the kanji itself coded in Unicode (UTF8)
• the code-point of the kanji. The values assigned so far are:
  • jis208 - JIS X 0208-1997 - kuten coding (nn-nn)
  • jis212 - JIS X 0212-1990 - kuten coding (nn-nn)
  • jis213 - JIS X 0213-2000 - kuten coding (p-nn-nn)
  • ucs - Unicode 4.0 - hex coding (4 or 5 hexadecimal digits)
• the radical.
  • classical - as recorded in the KangXi Zidian.
  • nelson - as used in the Nelson "Modern Japanese-English Character Dictionary" (i.e. the Classic, not the New Nelson). This will only be used where Nelson reclassified the kanji.
• miscellaneous information.
  • The Jouyou Kanji grade level. 1 through 6 indicate the grade in which the kanji is taught in Japanese schools. 8 indicates it is one of the remaining Jouyou Kanji to be learned in junior high school, and 9 indicates it is a Jinmeiyou (for use in names) kanji. [G]
  • The stroke count of the kanji, including the radical. If more than one, the first is considered the accepted count, while subsequent ones are common miscounts. (See Appendix E. of the KANJIDIC documentation for some of the rules applied when counting strokes in some of the radicals.) [S]
  • A cross-reference code to another kanji, usually regarded as a variant.
    • jis208 - in JIS X 0208 - kuten coding
    • jis212 - in JIS X 0212 - kuten coding
    • jis213 - in JIS X 0213 - kuten coding
    • deroo - De Roo number - numeric
    • njecd - Halpern NJECD index number - numeric
    • s_h - The Kanji Dictionary (Spahn & Hadamitzky) - descriptor
    • nelson - "Classic" Nelson - numeric
    • oneill - Japanese Names (O'Neill) - numeric
  • A frequency-of-use ranking. The 2,500 most-used characters have a ranking; those characters that lack this field are not ranked. The frequency is a number from 1 to 2,500 that expresses the relative frequency of occurrence of a character in modern Japanese. This is based on a survey in newspapers, so it is biassed towards kanji used in newspaper articles. The discrimination between the less frequently used kanji is not strong.

  • the name of the radical, when the kanji is itself a radical and has a name. [T2]
• the index numbers and similar unstructured information such as page numbers in a number of published dictionaries, and instructional books on kanji.
  • "Modern Reader's Japanese-English Character Dictionary", edited by Andrew Nelson (now published as the "Classic" Nelson).
  • "The New Nelson Japanese-English Character Dictionary", edited by John Haig.
  • "New Japanese-English Character Dictionary", edited by Jack Halpern.
  • "Kanji Learners Dictionary" (Kodansha) edited by Jack Halpern.
  • "Remembering The Kanji" by James Heisig.
  • "A New Dictionary of Kanji Usage" (Gakken)
  • "Japanese Names", by P.G. O'Neill.
  • "Essential Kanji" by P.G. O'Neill.
  • "Daikanwajiten" compiled by Morohashi.
  • "A Guide To Remembering Japanese Characters" by Kenneth G. Henshall.
  • "Kanji and Kana" by Spahn and Hadamitzky.
  • "A Guide To Reading and Writing Japanese" edited by Florence Sakade.
  • Tuttle Kanji Cards, compiled by Alexander Kask.
  • "The Kanji Way to Japanese Language Power" by Dale Crowley.
  • "Kanji in Context" by Nishiguchi and Kono.
  • "Japanese For Busy People" vols I-III, published by the AJLT. The codes are the volume.chapter.
  • "Kodansha Compact Kanji Guide".
• information relating to the glyph, and can be used for finding a required kanji.
  • Halpern's SKIP (System of Kanji Indexing by Patterns) code. The format is n-nn-nn. See the KANJIDIC documentation for a description of the code and restrictions on the commercial use of this data. [P]
  • the descriptor codes for The Kanji Dictionary (Tuttle 1996) by Spahn and Hadamitzky. [I]
  • the "Four Corner" code for the kanji. [Q]
  • the codes developed by the late Father Joseph De Roo, and published in his book "2001 Kanji" (Bonjinsha). [DR]
  • a possible misclassification of the kanji according to one of the code types.
• The readings for the kanji in several languages, and the meanings, also in several languages. The readings and meanings are grouped to enable the handling of the situation where the meaning is differentiated by reading. [T1]
  • pinyin - the modern PinYin romanization of the Chinese reading of the kanji. The tones are represented by a concluding digit. [Y]
  • korean_r - the romanized form of the Korean reading(s) of the kanji. The readings are in the (Republic of Korea) Ministry of Education style of romanization. [W]
  • korean_h - the Korean reading(s) of the kanji in hangul.
  • ja_on - the "on" Japanese reading of the kanji, in katakana.
  • ja_kun - the "kun" Japanese reading of the kanji, in hiragana.
• the "meanings" of the kanji. These are available for most of the kanji in English, most kanji in Portuguese, the jouyou kanji in French and the more common kanji in Spanish.