Suggested Booklist for Kanji

[Baka Gaijin]

Good Evening all,

 

What books would you suggest for Kanji and reading Japanese art names etc?

 

Cheers

 

 

Malcolm

[John A Stuart]

Japanese Art Signatures by Self and Hirose; The New Nelson Dictionary. John

[IanB]

Malcolm, Although it is very long in the tooth, A.J. Koop & H. Inada; Japanese Names and How to Read Them, Routledge &Kegan Paul, London 1923, takes a lot of beating. Not only does it have a character dictionary, it also contains masses of informationon dates, titles, towns families and the like. It has been reprinted a few times and copies can be found. I use it in conjunction with Nelson's Japanese English Character Dictionary, Tuttle, Tokyo 1991, and find the two together give me most of the informantion I want.

ian Bottomley

[Grey Doffin]

I agree with New Nelson's and Japanese Names by Koop & Inada. If you'll excuse my shameless self promotion, I'd like to add my "Kanji Flashcards" as being a good resource for reading sword signatures.

Grey

[Baka Gaijin]

Good Evening Gentlemen.

 

Thanks to John, Ian and Grey.

 

I've found the titles mentioned on Amazon.

 

Where does one obtain the Kanji Flashcards?

 

Cheers

 

 

Malcolm

[Stephen]

Malcom you get them from Grey

[Baka Gaijin]

Job Done...

 

Thank You Stephen.

 

 

Cheers

 

Malcolm

[Baka Gaijin]

Good Morning all.

 

Small postscript:

 

I now have a paperback copy of Koop & Inada's - Japanese names and how to read them.

 

What an extraordinary book.

 

Thank you Gentlemen.

 

Malcolm

[IanB]

Malcolm, Now that you have a copy of Koop, you need to practice finding the kanji. He uses stroke count first followed by how the kanji can be divided into separate parts. If you get Nelson you will find he uses radicals as the initial search criteria. It seems rather confusing at first but I find these two approaches a boon. If I can see a radical I use Nelson and when (if) I find the character look it up in Koop to determine its reading and / or special meaning in the signature. If no radical is obvious I dive into Koop with a stroke count, often having to look at count sections on either side of the number I arrived at until I find the kanji. In over 50 years of using the book I cannot really recall it having let me down - a fantastic achievement considering how old it is. They were real scholars.

Ian