General Details
Title: チャレンジ小学国語辞典 第六版(Challenge Elementary School Dictionary 6th Edition)
Volumes: 1
Language: Japanese
Publisher: Benesse
Year: 2015
Pages: 1,439
Title: チャレンジ小学漢字辞典 第六版(Challenge Elementary School Kanji Dictionary 6th Edtion)
Volumes: 1
Language: Japanese
Publisher: Benesse
Year: 2015
Pages: 1,151 (+ separate 110 page quiz book)
This is a special double-entry, as my copy of these two dictionaries came together as a boxed set (with convenient carry handle). The set includes the compact 6th edition versions of both the チャレンジ小学国語辞典 (Challenge Elementary School Dictionary) and the チャレンジ小学漢字辞典 (Challenge Elementary School Kanji Dictionary); these are also available separately as well as in a larger size. The set came with an instructional DVD and brochure on Fukaya Keisuke's method for dictionary usage (see his website here), which involves overloading the books with post-it-note bookmarks (see the image to the right, taken from Benesse's website). I do like step 4 in the brochure, though: 辞書と友だちになりましょう (become friends with your dictionary).
Both dictionaries feature cartoon angel characters - two which are kids learning how to use the dictionaries, and one like an elderly man, serving as their instructor. There are manga-style guides in the front and back of each dictionary covering dictionary usage and other language topics. The yellow volume, a monolingual Japanese-language dictionary intended for students in 1st through 6th grade, contains a number of special boxes and columns, covering idioms, meaning distinctions, and other linguistic topics. At the bottom of each page is a marginal note, either an idiomatic phrase or a book recommendation. In the back are appendices on sign language, braille, romaji, kanji radicals, seasonal words, time words, measures and counters, classical Japanese, and the 百人一首, hyakkunin isshu, or one hundred people, one poem each. There are some posters included with the dictionary which include the elementary school kanji characters as well as the poems contained in the hyakkunin isshu. All kanji have furigana to assist with pronunciation. Beyond the angel characters, who appear in the special boxes and columns, the illustrations are sparse, but well-done when they appear, serving to illustrate specifics or classifications.
The blue volume, the kanji dictionary, presents information on 3,045 kanji characters and the compounds and idiomatic phrases they form. Like the other volume, this one features special columns and info boxes on the history of kanji, notes on specific characters, and homophone distinction. There are indexes for looking up specific characters by pronunciation or by stroke count, and the margins of the book feature the kanji radicals for finding characters that way. The dictionary comes with a laminated double-sided card which gives instruction for finding characters these three different ways. The appendices in the back of the dictionary cover the history of kanji characters, the system of radicals, how kanji are pronounced, stroke order, unusual readings, and a list of the kanji that students should learn by academic grade. Just like in the yellow volume, all kanji have furigana. A quiz book is included as a separate volume; it features activities involving kanji radicals and compound word formation.
Sample Entries
I attempt to look up the same two entries, "umbrella" and "Saint Louis," in all of the reference works featured on this site, in order to provide a fair basis of comparison between them. "Saint Louis" is not in either of these (nor would it be expected to appear), but I have looked up "umbrella" (傘) in both. The entry for umbrella in the yellow volume - the standard dictionary - is found on page 247:
かさ 【傘】名詞 雨・雪・日光などをよけるために差すもの。例 日傘。
umbrella [傘] noun A thing held in order to avoid contact with rain, snow, sunlight, etc. example sun-umbrella.
The entry (image to the right) features illustrations showing the Japanese-style umbrella (からかさ, karakasa) and the Western-style umbrella (こうもりがさ).
The kanji character for umbrella, 傘, is not an elementary school character, but the blue volume - the kanji dictionary - is comprehensive enough to include it. It can be found on page 86. As kanji dictionary entries can be a bit challenging to represent in HTML, there is a picture of the entry sandwiched between the transcription and the translation.
𠆢 10画
【傘】
総画12 常用 音 サン 訓 かさ
ならたち 象形 [image of ancient kanji form] ►かさをひらいた形をえがいて、つくった字。「かさ」という意味を表す。
意味 かさ。雨や日ざしをふせぐため上からおおうもの。かさのような形のもの。例 雨傘。日傘。落下傘。
傘が上につくことば
【°傘下】サンカ 中心になる人や組織のもとに集まり、その指導や支配を受ける立場にあること。 例 大会社の傘下に入る。
傘が下につくことば
雨傘 日傘 落下傘〔パラシュート〕
[person radical] + 10 strokes
【傘】
Total strokes: 12 General-use On-reading san Kun-reading kasa
Origin Hieroglyph [image of ancient kanji form] ► This character was created by drawing the form of an opened umbrella. It expresses the meaning "umbrella."
Meaning Umbrella. A thing which covers from above to defend against rain and sun. Things with the form of an umbrella. Example Rain-umbrella. Sun-umbrella. Parachute.
Words beginning with 傘
【under the °umbrella of】sanka Being collected under a central figure or organization, from which guidance and control are received. Example Entering under the umbrella of a large corporation.
Words ending with 傘
rain-umbrella sun-umbrella parachute