This collection contains editions of popular Japanese language dictionaries concurrently used as encyclopedia in the Edo period (1603-1867).
Setsuyo-shu (節用集), word book or dictionary, was the general language dictionary (that is, Kanji-Japanese words dictionary) most widely used in the Muromachi period (1392-1573). As it entered the Edo period, its ease of use received wider and more popular acceptance. It became “one in every household” book, which was used also as an encyclopedia. These collected volumes represent not only the language used in the Edo period but also the substance of daily life and the reality of cultural life in the period.
This collection classifies 338 books into eight kinds, microfilmed in chronological order.