Chapter 4

Using Dokusha as a Kanji dictionary

If you have installed the Kanji dictionary file (kanjidic.pdb), you can look up Japanese Kanji characters and get information such as their English meanings, stroke count, on and kun readings, and so on.

Under the Kanji character and its English meanings are three fields; they are as follows:

Freq: The frequency of this character in ordinary usage. 1 is the highest.
Grade: The grade in which Japanese schoolchildren are supposed to learn this character. Ranges from 1 to 8. 0 indicates it is a "nonstandard" character (not in the list of Jouyou Kanji).
Strokes: The total number of strokes in this character, as measured by standard print-style orthography.

Below this is a list of the readings (pronounciations) of the Kanji. Note that on (Chinese) readings are shown in katakana, while kun (Japanese) readings are shown in hiragana. Note that a small dot in the middle of a reading indicates okurigana (kana appended after the Kanji character in writing; for example, the inflected part of verbs and adjectives). A horizontal stroke before a reading indicates that the reading is used as a suffix.

The buttons at the bottom of the screen work as follows:

Radicals: Displays information about the character's radicals. The character's "Bushu" (primary radical) is displayed, along with the radical's approximate reading. If you have installed the optional Radical Table database (radicals.pdb), you will also see all the radicals (graphemes) included in the character.
Explore: Launches the Kanji Explorer with the current character.
More Info: Displays some extra information about the character: JIS code, SKIP code, 4 Corner code, and the index number in the book Kanji & Kana by Hamitdzky & Spahn.

The menu options in the Kanji Details screen work as follows:

Copy SKIP Code: Copies the SKIP code for this Kanji to the clipboard.
Copy 4 Corner Code: Copies the 4 Corner code for this Kanji to the clipboard.
Copy Kanji (SJIS): Copies the kanji character to the clipboard in Shift-JIS format. If you have a Japanese OS, you can then paste it into another application.
Kanji Font...: Lets you select the font used to display the kanji character.
Yomikata Font...: Lets you select the font used to display the character's readings.
Be Flashcard - As in the dictionary screen, this option toggles whether this Kanji is in your Kanji flashcard list. You can also tap the upper-right corner of the screen for the same effect. If this Kanji is in your flashcard list, a small diamond will be displayed in the upper-right corner.
Set as Filter - This menu option will make this Kanji the current "filter". After this is done, the next dictionary search you do will only include entries that contain this Kanji.
Clear Filter - If you have selected a filter and want to remove it without doing a dictionary search, use this menu option.

The Find First and Find All buttons at the bottom of the screen can be used to look up all words starting with, or containing this Kanji, respectively.

Looking up Kanji characters

There are several ways to look up Kanji characters:

Looking up Kanji from the text

If you are reading a Japanese text, tap on a single Kanji character to select it then tap the Kanji button or use the Kanji/Kanji Info menu option. Information for the selected character will be displayed. Note that you can also use this to find the pronounciation of kana characters by selecting a kana character instead of a Kanji character.

Looking up Kanji by Radical

Using the Kanji/Bushu Lookup menu option, you can select from a list of traditional radicals (bushu).

In the Bushu Lookup screen, you can tap a radical to initial a search for Kanji with that radical (you supply the stroke count of the character to be matched). The solid black numbers are radical stroke count indicators to help you find the radical you are looking for. Use the Next and Prev buttons or the up/down hardware buttons to scroll through the list of radicals.

Looking up Kanji by Graphemes

The Kanji/Radical Lookup screen is a more powerful version of the Bushu Lookup screen which allows you to search for kanji by more than one radical at a time.

In this screen, you can tap one or more radicals to select or unselect them. All kanji containing all of the selected radicals are displayed in the bar at the top of the screen.

In addition, you can enter a stroke count at the top of the screen. If you do so, all subsequent searched kanji must also match the stroke count you supply. You can choose how specific the stroke count is by selecting from the drop down list: "exact" means the stroke count must match exactly, while "+/- 1" and "+/- 2" means the stroke count must be within 1 or 2, respectively.

The "Auto" checkbox indicates whether to automatically redo the search whenever you select or unselect a new radical. If you uncheck this, you must use the Find button to explicitly perform the search.

The number of matched kanji is displayed in the upper right corner of the screen. Once you have narrowed down the the number of kanji to an acceptable number, tap on the kanji you want in order to view its details (if there are more than 7 kanji displayed, use the navigation arrows to view more).

Looking up Kanji by Stroke Count

Using the Kanji/Strokes Lookup menu option, you can try to find a Kanji character by the number of strokes it contains. This should be used as a last resort (of if you just want to browse) because of the large number of search results it usually produces.

Looking up Kanji by Reading

Using the Kanji/Yomikata Lookup menu option, you can enter a reading for the character you wish to look up, and all characters with that reading are retrieved.

Looking up Kanji by SKIP Code

The Kanji/SKIP Lookup menu option lets you look up Kanji by SKIP (System of Kanji Indexing by Pattern) code. This is a simple system for looking up kanji based on their patterns and stroke count. If you don't know how to use SKIP codes, tap the information icon in the SKIP Lookup dialog for instructions.

Looking up Kanji by Four-Corner Code

The Kanji/Four Corner Lookup menu option lets you look up Kanji by their Four-Corner code, which is another (more traditional) lookup scheme. Use the information icon in the Four Corner Lookup dialog for instructions.

Looking up Kanji by JIS Code

The Kanji/JIS Lookup menu option prompts you for a 4-digit hexadecimal JIS code, and jumps to the Kanji with that JIS code. JIS codes are sometimes useful for exchanging Kanji between applications.

Looking up your Kanji filter

If you have previously selected a Kanji filter, this menu option lets you jump directly to that Kanji.

Interpreting your search results

A Kanji search may produce several possible matches. These matches are presented in the Kanji Search Results screen:

As usual, you can use the Prev and Next buttons (or the up/down hardware buttons) to scroll through the list of matches. If you see the Kanji character you want, tap it to access its details.

If there are too many Kanji characters to pick from, you may be able to use the menu options in this screen to narrow your search. The Limit to Radical option pops up a list of the first 36 radicals that occur in the list of matches.

Here, you can either tap a radical to limit the search to only those Kanji characters containing that radical, or press Cancel to go back.

The Limit to Strokes menu option is similar, but instead prompts you for a stroke count. The search criteria will then be narrowed to Kanji with that stroke count.

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