The milestone for really understanding Chinese characters (called kanji in Japan, hanzi in China, hanja in Korea). This translation of Shirakawa's bestselling Japanese dictionary gives you the correct explanations with an introduction to their mindset. It is the long-awaited true system of Chinese characters revealed for the first time and the only help for understanding and memorizing Chinese characters that works. Shizuka Shirakawa (1910-2006) was a terrific Chinese character scholar who is now widely acknowledged in East Asia. His method of teaching and explaining Chinese characters is now the standard method adopted at a number of Japanese schools.

Christoph Schmitz is lucky being the only western scholar to have met and exchanged letters with him. He made East Asia's foremost Chinese character research available in English for the first time.

* SHIRAKAWA METHOD -- Includes vocabulary and a commentary on the Shirakawa approach.
* FULLY INDEXED -- Alphabetical vocabulary and classifier index.
* THOROUGH CHARACTER FORM EXPLANATIONS -- Practical commentary explains the history of each character, revealing the hitherto undisclosed secrets of Chinese characters.
* FOR ENGLISH SPEAKERS -- This amazing resource is the world's first truly independent look into kanji-guru Shirakawa's work and gives English-speaking readers an unbiased, beautifully printed and time-saving access to the best kanji method available. A practical comment explains the history of character research and its failures in East Asia and the West, the hitherto undisclosed secrets of Chinese characters, and also their political usage.
(Paperback) First publication January 2016 (earlier date is merely that of ISBN allotment)