Great Kanji Tool

[zasshu]

I was totally lost in a search for kanji. I e-mailed Professor Tom Jekins for help and got a quick response from his martial arts dictionary. I will be picking one up I am sure it will be an indispensable tool for school heads and students alike.

More info.
www.martialartsdictionary.com

Gregory Poretz

[George Kohler]

I moved this to the appropriate forum.

[Blackwood]

Looks really neat! The sample page is clear and easy to read.

But $60? Plus $5 shipping? I'd have a very hard time justifying that! Even on the school's account!

And because it is PDF, I wouldn't be able to use any of the kanji without re-writing/typing it.

[Tripitaka of AA]

I'm sorry to sound negative, but... what I see here is a Do-It-Yourself Soke certificate printing aid.

If you ever looked at a Japanese dictionary you'd see that there is a lot more to it than simply "one word" = "one kanji", bingo! I can't think of many uses for a dictionary like this... unless it is the absolute highest, most well-researched, definitive and detailed authority on the obscure terms which are not often found in the regular dictionaries.

The sample page is easy to read and straightforward, but how does it cover those cases that are not so clear-cut? Does any Japanese linguist have any comments about the definitions shown?

The original post cites "Professor Tom Jenkins", although the linked website does not refer to that title. In fact the "about the author" section is devoid of any qualifications that might relate to the skils required for the task.

I find it ... interesting!

[Tripitaka of AA]

I'd like to offer an apology for my earlier post. It was badly written and poorly thought out. My caffeine levels must have been out of synch with my bio-rhythms or something. Or maybe I should quit looking for an excuse...

I still have some criticisms of the dictionary, but I think I'd better give it more than thirty seconds of thought before I put finger to key next time. Sorry!


... creeps away, wondering where it all went wrong, "I used to be such a nice boy".

[O'Neill]

Any comments on the accuracy of the translation?

[SLeclair]

$60 for a read-only PDF? No thanks, I'll pass.

What I would really, really like (to the point of dreaming about it, or doing it myself), would be an "edict" formatted dictionary file (like so many out there, like enamdict for names, etc.) with budo terms AND names - I'd give a leg to be able to choose my electronic budo dictionary, type in "山本晴介" and have it come back with "Yamamoto Harusuke", maybe even with a short text detailing what he did. That'd be just swell, and I'd pay more than $60 for that.

As it stands now, I have to take a guess at how names break down, enter them in my name dictionary, and try to find the one that matches a name I know of, then see if the other part of the name corresponds (All right.. "Fukui" something? Maybe "Fukui Torao"? Ah, no, that doesn't work.. Ah, "Fukui Harumasa"!). Works, but obviously I'm left high and dry on names I'm not familiar with.

Well, I have hopes. Maybe I'll just give up and start my own.

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Sebastien L.

[fogarty]

Originally posted by SLeclair
I'd give a leg to be able to choose my electronic budo dictionary, type in "山本晴介" and have it come back with "Yamamoto Harusuke", maybe even with a short text detailing what he did. That'd be just swell, and I'd pay more than $60 for that.

You'd better hope for that price that it would rather say, "Yamamoto Haresuke" because that's his name.

Sea/n

[SLeclair]

Originally posted by fogarty
You'd better hope for that price that it would rather say, "Yamamoto Haresuke" because that's his name.

Really? You're the first to correct me on that. A googlefight shows 18 results for "Yamamoto Harusuke", including hits from the eikoku roshukai, interviews with Iwata sensei from hyoho.com, the eishinkai, furyu.com, a lineage chart from a finnish site (listed as coming from Iwata's book), and other similar hits. There is but one hit for "Yamamoto Haresuke", which seems to be some seminar/tournament report written by you.

My kanji dictionary lists haru and hare as a valid nanori for the kanji 晴. I've only ever heard "Harusuke" from everyone I've talked and communicated to. What source do you have as far as his name definitely being "Yamamoto Haresuke"?

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Sebastien L.
[edit for spelling]

[fogarty]

Oh, terribly sorry then. Perhaps my ears deceive me. It is very possible, as my listening comprehension isn't native.

[SLeclair]

Originally posted by fogarty
Oh, terribly sorry then. Perhaps my ears deceive me. It is very possible, as my listening comprehension isn't native.

Ah, cr*p. I was hoping you had an authoritative way to verify. I've been trying to search the net for different names and their possible kana counterparts, but that just doesn't work. Haresuke, Harusuke, sounds very close, but for those that I just don't know anything about, I still need to figure out a way to find how they read.

I guess that's why the more you go back in a lineage (say, my MJER), the more you see "alternate" readings of names of those old masters. Heck, it took me a long while to decide that "Shokai Iai" is written by Mitani Yoshisato, not Yoshisaki.

Japanese names are fun .

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Sebastien L.