Wamyō Ruijushō
The Wamyō ruijushō or Wamyō ruijūshō is a 938 CE Japanese dictionary of Chinese characters. The Heian period scholar Minamoto no Shitagō began compilation in 934, at the request of Emperor Daigo's daughter. This Wamyō ruijushō title is abbreviated as Wamyōshō, and has graphic variants of 和名類聚抄 with wa "harmony; Japan" for wa "dwarf; Japan" and 倭名類聚鈔 with shō "copy; summarize" for shō "copy; annotate".
The Wamyō ruijushō is the oldest extant Japanese dictionary organized into semantic headings, analogous to a Western language thesaurus. This ancient lexicographical collation system was developed in Chinese dictionaries like the Erya, Xiao Erya, and Shiming. The Wamyōshō categorizes kanji vocabulary, primarily nouns, into main headings divided into subheadings. For instance, the tenchi heading includes eight semantic divisions like seishuku, un'u, and fūsetsu.
Each dictionary entry gives the Chinese character, sources cited, Chinese pronunciations, definitions, and corresponding Japanese readings. It cites over 290 sources, both Chinese and Japanese.
The Wamyō ruijushō, survives in both a 10-volume edition and a 20-volume edition. The larger one was published in 1617 with a commentary by Nawa Dōen and was used in the Edo period until the 1883 publication of the 10-volume edition annotated by Kariya Ekisai, also known as the Senchū Wamyō ruijushō. The 10-volume edition has 24 main headings divided into a total of 128 subheadings, while the 20-volume version has 32 and 249, respectively. The table below illustrates how words are semantically categorized in the 10-volume edition.
| Rōmaji | Kanji | Translation | Subjects | |
| 1 | Tenchi | 天地 | Universe | constellations, weather, gods, earth, topography |
| 2 | Jinrin | 人倫 | Humans | gender, kinship, family, marriage |
| 3 | Keitai | 形体 | Body | body parts, sense organs, internal organs |
| 4 | Shippei | 疾病 | Sickness | diseases, wounds |
| 5 | Jutsugei | 術藝 | Arts | martial arts, fine arts, skills |
| 6 | Kyosho | 居處 | Architecture | houses, walls, doors, roads |
| 7 | Sensha | 舟車 | Vehicles | boats, carts, carriages |
| 8 | Chinpō | 珍寶 | Treasures | precious metals, jewels |
| 9 | Fuhaku | 布帛 | Textiles | embroidery, silks, woven fabrics |
| 10 | Shōzoku | 装束 | Clothing | hats, clothes, belts, shoes |
| 11 | Inshoku | 飲食 | Foods and Drinks | liquors, beverages, cooked grains, fruits, meats |
| 12 | Kibei | 器皿 | Utensils | objects of metal, lacquer, wood, tile, and bamboo |
| 13 | Tōka | 燈火 | Illumination | lamps, lights, lighting |
| 14 | Chōdo | 調度 | Things and Supplies | implements, tools, weapons, utensils, furnishings |
| 15 | Uzoku | 羽族 | Birds | birds, feathers, ornithology |
| 16 | Mōgun | 毛群 | Wild Animals | wild animals, body parts |
| 17 | Gyūsha | 牛馬 | Domestic Animals | cattle, horses, sheep, body parts, diseases |
| 18 | Ryōgo | 龍魚 | Aquatic animals | dragons, fish, reptiles, amphibians |
| 19 | Kibai | 龜貝 | Shellfishes | turtles, shellfish |
| 20 | Chūchi | 蟲豸 | Miscellaneous Animals | insects, worms, small reptiles |
| 21 | Tōkoku | 稲穀 | Grains | rices, cereals |
| 22 | Saiso | 菜蔬 | Vegetables | tubers, seaweeds, edible plants |
| 23 | Kayu | 果蓏 | Fruits | fruits, melons |
| 24 | Sōmoku | 草木 | Plants | grasses, mosses, vines, flowers, trees |
The broadly inclusive Wamyō ruijushō dictionary was an antecedent for Japanese encyclopedias. In the present day, it provides linguists and historians with an invaluable record of the Japanese language over a thousand years ago. For more details, see Bailey in English and Okimori in Japanese.