K N J I D I C
=============

This  document  describes  the  file "kanjidic", which is a merger of the former
files  "jis1detl.lst"  and  "jis2detl.lst".  It contains 2965 + 3388 lines,  one
for each of the  JIS1  and  JIS2 kanji.  

The first file was compiled initially from the  file  "kinfo.dat"  supplied  by 
Stephen  Chung,  who  in  turn  compiled  his file from a file prepared by Mike 
Erickson.  I originally added about 1900 "meanings" by James Heisig keyed in by 
Kevin Moore from the book "Remembering The Kanji".  I later added the ex-Nelson 
meanings from Rik Smoody's files. 

The  second  file  was compiled from a complete JIS2 list with Bushu and stroke 
counts kindly supplied to me by Jon Crossley,  to which I added Nelson numbers, 
yomikata  and  meanings extracted from a dictionary file prepared by Rik Smoody 
at Sony. 

The file is being continually updated with  extra  and  corrected  yomikata, 
Nelson  nos,  meanings,  etc.  Theresa  Martin has been a great assistance with 
this,  particularly with  tracking  down  and  correcting  many  mistranscribed 
yomikata (the old zu/dzu, oo/ou, ji/dji, etc. problems). 
                                             
Kanjidic is used now to build the "kinfo.dat" file which is  used  by  JDIC 
and  JREADER (and JWP if Stephen Chung ever finishes it).  "kinfo.dat" contains 
the identical information, but in a compressed form and in a structure suitable 
for fast indexed access. It is also used in the XJDIC program.

Each line is in ASCII & EUC. It contains: 

- the kanji (in EUC) 

- the ASCII of the two bytes of JIS code  (for  those  who  like  such  things. 
Actually it makes the file a bit easier to edit.) 

-  the  Nelson  index  number of the kanji in the form Nnnnn (where it does not 
exist there is N0) 

- the Nelson radical (Bushu) number in the form Bnnn. 

- the stroke count in the form Snnn 

- the "Grade" of the kanji in the form Gn (i.e.  the school grade in which  the 
kanji is taught in Japan.) 
                                      
- the ON readings from Nelson in katakana 

-  the KUN readings in hiragana (note that for most of the JIS2 kanji,  all the 
yomikata are at present in hiragana,  but this is gradually  being  corrected.) 
For  some  of  the  kanji  okurigana  are  included;  the  okurigana portion is 
separated by a "(" (for quite historical reasons). 

- the "meanings" in the form {meaning_1} {..} {meaning_n} 

As the files were first generated,  there were many duplicated Nelson  numbers, 
i.e. multiple kanji with the same number. Some of these were mistakes, but many 
came  from  the structure of Nelson itself.  Nelson has many of the alternative 
(and generally obscure) kanji in one of the following forms: 

KANJI_1 see KANJI_2 nnnn 

or 

KANJI_A pppp see KANJI_B nnnn 
                 
In the earlier version of JISnDETL.LST,  all of these Kanji had a Nelson number 
of  nnnn.  As  my  JDIC  program,  in its kanji_search,  requires unique Nelson 
numbers,  I have rationalized the the numbering so that  KANJI_1  will  have  a 
Nelson  number  of  0,  and  a  cross-reference in the meanings field to Nnnnn. 
Similarly, KANJI_A will have a number of pppp and a cross-reference to nnnn. 

I seem to be the custodian of these files, so feel free to send me corrections. 
DO NOT send me complete files,  diff out YOUR  corrections  and  just  send  me 
those,  otherwise I will be trying to sort out conflicting sets of corrections. 
The jisNdetl.lst files will be available on the monu6 and other archives. 

Jim Breen
(jwb@capek.rdt.monash.edu.au)
Department of Robotics & Digital Technology
Monash University, Victoria, Australia