General Details
Title: 日本語大辞典
Volumes: 1
Language: Japanese
Publisher: 講談社
Year: 1989
Pages: 2304
This is a pretty heavy book. The full title is 講談社 カラー版 日本語大辞典, or The Great Japanese Dictionary (Kodansha Color Edition), and the pages are filled with color photographs and illustrations, so the paper is a little thicker than what is typically used in large dictionaries. This paper is super glossy as a result, making the dictionary hard to photograph. This dictionary is intended to be a comprehensive Japanese monolingual dictionary, including basic kanji information and foreign words. A sizable number of entries (but by no means all) include a simple English translation. The dictionary also contains popular and geographic names, including book titles, historical figures, etc.
At the beginning of the dictionary is an introductory essay, followed by a guide to the dictionary's features and a list of contributors and photograph sources. There is a listing of radicals and kanji by stroke order to help identify where each can be found in the main text: each kanji has a small entry within the dictionary under its primary on or Chinese reading. The ~8600 kanji listings in the dictionary proper list the radical for each character, as well as its JIS Code, stroke number, primary readings, and a very brief description of its meaning. The 154 pages of appendices following the main text include guides to modern and historical orthography, conjugation forms, letter and postcard writing, report writing, polite language, wedding speeches, funerary greetings, addressing gifts, and telephoning. There is also a guide to Chinese folk sayings, an overview of the zodiac, a guide to counters, a map of Japan and its prefectures, a timeline of Japanese literature, the Hyakunin Isshu, a guide to seasonal words, a guide to weather terms, star charts, moon phases, weights and measures, flags of the world, road signs, cartographic information, a guide to braille and sign language, an illustrated guide to traditional patterns, a swatched guide to 350 color names, and a list of alphabetic abbreviations.
Sample Entries
I try to look up the same two entries, "umbrella" and "Saint Louis," in order to provide a basis of comparison between the various reference works featured on this site. "Umbrella" (傘) can be found on page 342 (the kanji character 傘 has a separate entry on page 794 under its reading of san); the accompanying illustration shows two different family crests ("three umbrellas" and "open umbrella") and is meant to accompany the third definition:
かさ ［傘］ ① 雨・雪・日ざしなどを避けるためにかざす柄のついた用具。から傘・こうもり傘・日傘の総称。さしがさ。umbrella 用例 — をさす。数え方 一本・一張り。②①の形をしているもの。きのこの上部など。③紋所の名。開いた傘、閉じた傘、花傘などを紋章化。→図 →キノコ図
Umbrella [umbrella] ① A tool attached to a handle held aloft in order to avoid sunshine, snow, rain, etc. Generic name for the paper umbrella, Western-style umbrella, and parasol. Parasol. umbrella. Usage Example To hold an umbrella. Counter One long cylindrical thing, one set. ② A thing having the shape of ①. The top part of a mushroom, etc. ③ The name of family crests. Crest of arms like "open umbrella," "closed umbrella," "flower umbrella," etc. →Illustration →Mushroom Illustration
The entry on "Saint Louis" can be found on page 1115:
セント・ルイス ［Saint Louis］ アメリカ中北部、ミズーリ州東部の商工業都市。ミシシッピ川とミズーリ川の合流点に発達した河港。人口四五・三万（一九八八）。
Saint Louis [Saint Louis] A commercial/industrial city in the Eastern part of the state of Missouri, in the middle-Northern part of the United States. River port developed at the confluence point of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. Population 453,000 (1988).