As the overview article showed, Ōtsuki had to design Genkai from scratch, with no model to follow. Here we read, in the original, how he himself explained that design.
“What kind of dictionary is this book?”
Genkai’s front matter, titled “The Main Intent of This Book’s Compilation” (本書編纂ノ大意), opens like this:
此書ハ日本普通語ノ辭書ナリ。凡ソ普通辭書ノ體例ハ専ラ其國普通ノ單語若クハ熟語二三語合シテ別ニ一義ヲ成スモノヲ挙ゲテ、地名人名等ノ固有名稱或ハ高尚ナル學術専門ノ語ノ如キハ收メズ。
(This book is a dictionary of ordinary Japanese words. The typical format of an ordinary dictionary is to take up a country’s ordinary words, or compound expressions formed by joining two or three words into a single meaning, and not to include proper nouns such as place names and personal names, or specialized, elevated academic terminology.)
In just two sentences, Ōtsuki sketches the whole outline of Genkai. There is a declaration that this is a dictionary of “ordinary words,” and, following from it, an exclusion rule — proper nouns and specialized terminology fall outside its scope. It was precisely this willingness to draw a clear boundary that let a dictionary compiled by a single person actually reach completion within a limited span of years. Had he tried to cover proper nouns and specialized terms as well, the sheer scope of research required would have grown without limit, and the project would almost certainly never have wrapped up within the fourteen years covered in the overview article.
Five kinds of information, for every word
Ōtsuki then lists, one by one, what information should be attached to every word he includes.
辭書ニ舉ゲタル言語ニハ左ノ五種ノ解アラムコトヲ要ス……其一、發音（Pronunciation）。發音ノ異ナルモノニハ其符アルヲ要ス。例ヘバ「さいはひ」ハ「さいはひ」……其二、語別（Parts of speech）。
(Every word entered in this dictionary requires the following five kinds of explanation… First, pronunciation. Words with differing pronunciations require a mark to distinguish them. For example, “saihahi” is marked as such… Second, part of speech.)
Pronunciation, and part of speech — the two layers of information covered in the previous two articles are being specified here, with concrete examples. Words like “afuhi” (hollyhock) and “afugu” (fan), whose pronunciations were hard to distinguish under the orthography of the time, are deliberately spelled out one by one to mark the difference — this meticulous attention to detail is what gives the skeleton of gojūon order real, usable flesh. Nothing about this list is theoretical; every category Ōtsuki names comes attached to a worked example, as if he were anticipating exactly where a reader might get stuck.
Thorough boundary-drawing made completion possible
What both quotations share is that Ōtsuki drew a clear line, early on, between what he would and would not attempt. Had he tried to cover every word and every kind of information, the project might never have ended. Narrowing the scope to “ordinary words,” and then, within that scope, describing the categories he had settled on — pronunciation, part of speech — thoroughly and completely: this willingness to draw a boundary was, arguably, the single most practical piece of wisdom that let one person actually finish Genkai within fourteen years.
Summary
| Point | Detail |
|---|---|
| The scope declared | A dictionary of “ordinary words” — proper nouns and specialized terms excluded |
| The information specified | A policy of attaching five kinds of information, such as pronunciation and part of speech, to every word |
| The core stance | Narrow the scope, then describe that scope thoroughly |
In a nutshell — Ōtsuki first confronted himself, plainly, with the most basic question — what kind of dictionary is this book? — and only then put pen to paper.