Kanji Set 2015-04-08

Jim's Kanji

Hi,

Welcome to the homepage of Jim's Kanji. I'm Jim, sometimes known as Yaban-Jim. This is to inform you of the various rules, as well to give you some helpful information.

DEDICATION

I am dedicating this work to the memory of the late Sensei John Yumoto. He was a absolute limitless well of interesting and useful information. I went to him for help in learning about the Japanese Sword. I was not advanced enought to gain the most from his teachings. But that was my fault and not his. He spent much of his life as a Instructor and Scholar at the US Navy Language Institute in Monterey, California. During World War II he also was working for the US Navy on a book of the variations in the brush writing of the kanji.

The greatest thing that I learned from Sensei Yumoto was not to make enemies. I now understand that but I am still not very good at it. Sensei was able to rise above the petty bickering that hinders many of us.

There where many times as I looked at one of my kanji that I just knew that Sensei Yumoto would say, "It looks like it is going to fall over." "What is that suppose to be." Or "That is very FAT isn't it." Sensei Yumoto never taugh me specifically about kanji, but I "knew" what he would say.

RULES

The rules are really not very strict, or difficult! Jim's Kanji is shareware. That means that I own this software, not you. But I sharing it with you.Give copies of it to your friends, co-workers, or anyone else you care to. But please follow the rules. You must include the complete set of files without modification, addition or deletion of any kind. But you may include other seperate and helpful files, that are labeled as such.

You may not sell my software, or include it in a package for sale without my written permission. But you may charge a small fee ($10 US or less) foryour costs and services, (copying, cost of floppy disks, shipping, etc.). The no sale rule does not apply to the sale of your written works that use my kanji only as a font in a writing.

I have done my best to insure that Jim's Kanji is trouble free. But I can not accept any responsibility after it leaves my hands. Therefore the user accepts full responsibility for what happens to his or others equipment and/or software.

HELPFUL INFORMATION

Basically I tried to make a system for writing good looking kanji (Japanese characters) that is affordable, and not too difficult to use. However I feel due to the massive numbers of different kanji demands some difficulty, especially for non-native users. I also do not want it to take up very much disk space in it's usable form. True Type appears to answer most of my demands. As to disk space usage (about 2.5 meg.) remember that this covers over 2,500 characters, and a infinite number of sizes, (about 1/4 inch high and up is readable and usable). Also those of you who use a commercial printing service may give them a copy of these files, if they are set up to use "True Type Files". In the future more and more commercial printers should have this service. However at this time the comercial printers are resisting this (WHY?). In the somewhat near future I will put this work out as "Adobe type 1" fonts.

Part of my reason for doing this work is the fact that most of the current kanji systems are VERY Expensive, (and ugly). Their prices really do not make them affortable for the average user or even small groups or business (churches, clubs or newsletters). And these prices make kanji systems totally out of reach for most student of the oriental material. Also the prices really do not give much in the way of output. Frequently they only use one small size of type face done in dot matrix. And their larger sizes are just magnifications of their smaller sizes. I suggest that if you are able to buy a legitimate copy of a reasonably priced kanji system, buy it. The programmers probably worked very hard to make their product and they deserve our support. However if the company wants $500 (or even $200) for 2,000 crude kanji show them my system are tell them to "Eat kanji and Die".

These characters should also be usable to those of you who use Chinese or Korean. But my primary interest is Japanese, and my knowledge of Chinese or Korean is extremely limited. However I may be able to assist you more, so please read MORE HELP (below).

I developed this to have a good looking character when printed, especially in a large size, (for posters etc.). With a 300 DPI laser printer, output is very good at 36 points (1/2 inch) or above. With a 600 DPI resolution enhanced printer one could have readable output at less than 12 points. But most would need a magnifing glass to read it. With a 9 pin dot matrix printer one may have to use 72 points (1 inch high) for clear results.

This system is designed to be used in "Windows 3.1" and above. Using "Windows" allows minimal modification to your system (assuming that you already use Windows). "Windows" is also a native environment for True Type. Any program that allows individual input of True Type characters should give a WYSIWYG ("what you see is what you get") result. This would include many of the "Windows" word processors, and draw programs. With some work one can use the "Paint" program, or "Write" program along with "Character map" that comes with "Windows 3.1" for a output as good as possible, (at no extra cost).

My system as it now sits contains 14 True Type files. The first one is Kana.ttf. It first contains 109 katakana, and then 105 hiragana. There are 4 more hiragana in KanjiA.ttf. There are 12 kanji.ttf files. KanjiA.ttf, KanjiB.ttf, to KanjiL.ttf. The kanji are in the order of Andrew N. Nelson's The Modern Reader's Japanese-English Character Dictionary. This is a very helpful book for those of us who did not have Japanese as a native language. "Nelson's" uses the radical system, and the number of strokes for it's order. This is similar to that used in other character dictionarys. The native Japanese, Chinese, or Korean users will probably not have considerable problems with my system. The last 5 spaces for characters in each True Type file are left empty. This is for the later additions which will undoubtably happen. I have also added a Kanjispe.ttf which contains some of the Special kanji, or variations of kanji used by various artists.

"Windows" does not allow the characters numbered 0 - 32, 127 - 129, 141 - 144, nor 157 - 158 to be used. I also found a problem where some of the programs (including "Write" do not like to use character #160. So the characters #160 are also being placed in character position #251. In KanjiD.ttf and higher I have left position #160 unused.

I have included 109 katakana, 109 hiragana, the 1,850 Toyo Kanji, 28 substitutions recommended by the Japanese Press, 92 kanji recommended for proper names, and some characters that where available and maybe useful. This gives over 2,550 characters. This was a major work, and took over 2,000 hours, which includes alot of necessary research, and translation (to get the brush stroke form). As well as finding computer programs that would do the job.

It also did not help that most of my work was done in Southern Mexico (Oaxaca). I had a difficult time getting the software and equipment that I needed. And the only kanji, that I could see was what I brought myself. Also my cleaning lady was able to "hid" my working papers faster than I was able to find them. If I ever go through the hugh stacks of papers that she made weekly I will undoubtably find alot of strange things as well as long lost important papers.

Please excuse my lack of knowledge of the artistic form for kanji. But if you are not willing to put up with that you may have to wait for an artistic priest to redo this work properly. And then you will probably pay a "Priestly amount" for it.

Even I am not satisfied with all of my kanji. As I was working on KanjiE.ttf there where already many kanji in KanjiA.ttf that I did not like. But even these look pretty good at a height of 2 or 3 inches. I had viewed each character when finished, with a on screen character height of 9", but my artistic sense improved with use. However this is a major work for one person. And if I waited until I am completely satisfied, this work would not be released for at least 6 more months. So I plan to be slowly improving my kanji for years to come. I suggest the users occasionaly look for new and improved versions of these files. I also plan to bring these out as "Adobe Type". And "Unicode" will help a great deal. I might even be able to program a "Real Window's Program" that is made to write kanji. Or I might find other shareware that will work. But if I must spend a great deal for more programs to complete all this I may have to start charging for my work (causing more trouble for all).

MORE HELP

In the near future I plan on putting out smaller sets for more specific projects. I collect Japanese swords, and this is why I started this whole project. When writing about swords in english only about 500 kanji are necessary, or helpful. There is no reason to have 2,500 kanji in their computer for this type of work. So I will make 2 or 3 "True Type Files" that contain the essentials for this work. Some artists used variations of kanji for some of their signatures, and I shall include some of these. If other writers have similar problems (for example writing about Japanese paintings, or ceramics), please contact me about your needs.

I hope to be as helpful to you as possible. But please do not expect too much. I developed this in my spare time, and at my own expense. I will not even get college credit for my work. If you have helpful critisism, please give it. If you have worth while and special needs, please tell me.

I would especially like to put out a type face that is very close to the ancient artistic brush work. For this I will need donations of good brush work of the characters to scan. I will also need a legal release by the artist, so I may scan their work. I will try to give full credit to the artist or artistsfor their work.

For those of you that use the Chinese or Korean languages I would like to help you in the future with your phonetic, or special characters. But at this time I do not know what they are, or even what they are called. Please tell me!

For those of you that would like to use Jim's Kanji on another type of computer system, please contact me. I might be able to convert it. Or if you are able to convert it, please contact me, so I can have a copy for others. And I will be happy to give you authorization and credit for your work. If those of us who share a problem pull together, there is nothing that we can not do. This will then benefit our lives and the lives of those in our as well as other's communities.

Jim Kurrasch

Goleta, California

USA

(805) 968-8278

InterNet kurrasch@west.net

The FTP Site for Jim's Kanji is; ftp://ftp.west.net/pub/users/kurrasch/kanji112.exe


INSTALLATION

I am releasing Jim's Kanji in 3 forms. The first is Kanji112.zip, this contains all necessary files, and would probably come on one floppy disk. The second form will probably be downloaded. To have all of Jim's Kanji you need 3 zipped files kanji1a.zip, kanji1b.zip, and kanji1c.zip. The third form is for those who are less computer knowledgeable. It contains all necessary files on 2 floppy disks. Kanji112.exe is the form on the FTP site.

First you must copy the kanji files to where you will use them. You may use the "Copy files to Windows Directory" option, SEE BELOW. This will probably be the System sub-directory of the Windows directory. After this you will have to install the fonts in "Windows". To install the fonts start

"Windows". Go to the Main Group. In this group start the Control icon. After the Control panel opens, double click on the Fonts icon. When the Fonts panel is open click on ADD. You may then have to change directories to the System sub-directory of the Windows directory, (or change to the floppy disk that contains the files). After this select the desired fonts, kana.ttf, kanjiA.ttf - kanjiL.ttf, and the radicals if you desire the all that is available. By activating the "copy files to Windows Directory" Button, it will do just that. And you will not have to manually copy the files from the floppy drive. At a later time you will be able to remove any that you do not want by reversing this and removing them instead of the add part.

After you have installed the fonts, you should then open the "Write" program. It is normally in the accessories group, if you have not moved it. I wrote this part in "Write" because it is available to all Windows users. Open Kanji.wri and print it. It it will give a pictorial print out of all available kanji, kana, radicals and their location in the True Type files. The characters will be at 30 points. Use legal size paper (11 x 14 inches) and each of the seperate "True Type" files will be printed out on one page. And this will be a grand total of 13 legal pages. If you do not use legal size paper you should remove the page breaks before printing. At this time due to technical problems the last 3 files are extra. You probably should just erase that part prior to printing.

I also am including a Kanji.doc. program similar to Kanji.wri. It is in the "Word for Windows 6.0" format. "Word" is a much easier program to use my kanji in than "Write". Hopefully if you do not use one or the other of these programs, your program can "translate". Remember that you MUST have the kanji installed in "Windows" before Kanji.wri or Kanji.doc can read from them. If they are not installed you will basically get a page of symbols and foreign characters.

There is a file Kanjittf.txt which is in a tab-delimited text format. This gives the TTF location number crossed referenced to Nelson's Number. I have also started to place in other helpful information. but that project is on the back burner. When I was in Mexico I tried to hire someone to input that information, but they where never able to do what I wanted without me standing over them. At that point it was better to do it myself.

You will also be able to use "Write" or "Paint" and the "Character Map" program to write the Kanji (I wrote Kanji.wri in "Write"). If you do not have or do not wish to use another writing or paint program. While using "Write" one has to be extremely careful with what character set is active (in

"Write") when they are pasted in. But if a mistake is made, just highlight the error, and change the character set (you will not have to input the characters again). Still this problem will probably make you at least want to buy another program.

If you have another program that uses "True Type" such as "Word for Windows", "WordPerfect" or "Corel Draw" they will work fine. Just follow the instructions in their manual to input True Type Symbols.

You may not want to install all of the files. Each file that you do not install will save about 200 kilobytes of disk space. If you are using this program for Chinese or Korean there is no need to install the "kana.ttf" file. Or you may want to install the files on your floppy drives. 2 high density floppy drives could hold all the kanji files. In this case just tell "Windows" where they are.

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