In Japan, there are a lot of dictionaries. In this article, I studied the representative dictionary “Genkai” which is evaluated as the beginning of modern Japanese dictionary. Modern Japanese dictionaries have different compilation policies, and t...
In Japan, there are a lot of dictionaries. In this article, I studied the representative dictionary “Genkai” which is evaluated as the beginning of modern Japanese dictionary. Modern Japanese dictionaries have different compilation policies, and there are ‘ethmology’ and ‘modern languageism’. Dictionaries are compiled based on this standard.
In this study, I examinated the history and characteristics of each dictionary, and tried to clarify Japan’s image at the time of compilation and publication. In midst of Japanese modernization after the Meiji Restoration, unify of Japanese Language was started. the notation of each document, family register, and text book was changed every year, and was managed uniformly through out Japan or the ruling countries. The Japanese dictionary plays a big role in the unification and is captained by the modernization of Japan. Until now, the Japanese dictionary exists as the standard of the language that we use.