7. Dictionary Reviews
Below are the Dictionary’s Reviews that are in the app Monokakido
明鏡国語辞典
First edition : 2002
Last edition : 2020 (third edition)
Publisher : 大修館書店
Number of words : 73,000 words
Number of pages : 1910 pages
ISBN-13 : 978-4469021226
The 明鏡国語辞典 is another small dictionary, but it is the one I would most recommend to people first getting their feet into monolingual dictionaries as there are a few things that in my eyes elevate it as a starter dictionary. Its greatest strength lies in it’s relatively simple and to the point explanations. Though I have read / heard people claim that many of their definitions are based on other dictionaries and changed just enough as to not be copyright infringement. This could very well be the case, I don’t really know either way, but the case remains that their definitions are often some of the simplest around to grasp (this is not to say that all their definitions are always the simplest ones among all dictionaries. Looking at multiple dictionaries can still pay of handsomely!). An example of definitions being based can be seen for example in the first definition of the entry under 肉. This is Meikyo’s definition (3rd edition) :
❶動物のからだで、皮膚の下にあり骨をつつむやわらかな物質。
This is Sanseido’s (8th edition) definition (and my personal favourite from all dictionaries I have) :
①動物の からだの、皮の下にある、やわらかな部分。
And this is Shinmeikai’s definition :
㊀動物の皮膚の下にあって骨を包む、柔らかな物質。
As you can see, smash those two definitions right together and you pretty much end up with Meikyo’s, but while this may cause disinterest in the dictionary for some people I think it’s honestly one of it’s strongest aspects. Someone has gone through multiple dictionary entries and “distilled” it down, removing the need on your part to do this.
Entries aside, what is the other reason I would recommend this one? Though it is only to do with the digital one over the paper version, the option for full furigana! This is a real boon for people being discouraged from making the switch themselves, so a great extra to “take the plunge”.
Normal Ruby :
Full Ruby :
How to activate “full ruby” mode? Just click on the three lines for the options and select “Show Full Ruby”
The Meikyo is also quite heavy on the “caution” section regarding wrongful use of words. However, it is noted in several blog posts I’ve read that they are overly cautious and will note a certain use of some words as wrong even though it is an accepted use in certain cases. So if you encounter a caution of this sort it is best to keep in mind that you should also look at other sources to confirm this.
The appendix and dignity column also deserve a brief mention. The appendix has some fun stuff, such as “seasonal words” which are great fun to just read through and look up (and invaluable if you are interested in Haiku I’ve heard). And the dignity column which acts like a sort of thesaurus that offers a plethora of more formal words and terms.
Seasonal words :
Dignity column of 行く :
I’d love to know more about the ✦ dignity column ✧ haha (I will go look this up now)
It’s entries with a similar meaning that can be used in more formal settings. Think of it like a thesaurus function for a limited number of examples. For example if we are to look at the 行く entry, this would be the dignity column :
✦品格✧
足を運ぶ「幾たびも足を運ぶ」
足を向ける「生まれ故郷に足を向ける」
赴く「任地に赴く」
参上「お召しを受け、急ぎ参上する」
出向く「使者として出向く」
参る「ご一緒に参りましょう」
向かう「出口に向かう」
A Japanese article about the dignity column with some examples and the like : 「品格ある言葉遣い」へ 工夫凝らした明鏡 | 毎日ことば 3
三省堂国語辞典
First edition : 1960
Latest edition : 2021 (8th edition)
Publisher : 三省堂
Number of words : 84.000 words
Nickname : 三国
The Sanseido is one of many dictionaries published by Sanseido, a leading dictionary manufacturer. It is currently up to it’s eight edition, only being released in December of 2021. The strength of this dictionary lies in it’s inclusion of new words. They also basically don’t include any proper nouns or difficult technical terms, so most entries found are words one could encounter in everyday language. It is a thoroughly modernist dictionary, with it’s goal being to faithfully copy the Japanese language as it is being used currently. It is well known for it’s policy of quite quickly eliminating words that aren’t judged to be “modern words”. This means that when reading a text from even a decade ago, it is possible that some words won’t even be found in there anymore.
Besides just new headwords, new meanings of existing words and overlooked meanings and usages are also covered very quickly.
It is also available on the Monokakido “Dictionaries” app, here is an example looking at the headword 『肉』
A comparison between the 7th and 8th edition
One thing that I enjoy doing is having multiple dictionaries and / or editions of dictionaries open one besides another. It’s often a case of spot the differences, as entries can be pretty much or entirely the same. However I just wanted to give a couple of comparisons because it showcases (in my opinion) why getting the latest edition of a dictionary is quite often the better deal, as words are either explained clearer or offer more context than they did before.
Let’s just start by looking at the entry for 肉 as we showed it here before, and comparing that to the same entry in the 7th edition :
Instantly, some quite notable differences show up. While the first definition is exactly the same, word for word, we already find a lot of differences in the second definition :
7th edition : “②鳥・けものの からだのうちで、食べられる やわらかな ところ。”
8th edition : “②けものや鳥の からだのうちで、食べられる やわらかなところ。〔多く、東日本では豚肉ぶたにく、西日本では牛肉を言う〕
「お━と野菜・━屋〔＝精肉店〕」”
While the main explanation doesn’t have any difference (except for switching to や for listing birds and animals), we do get a ton more context as well as an example sentence in the 8th edition. They’ve also included the third definition in the second instead of it being separate entries.
Another quick benefit can be shown by looking for example at the entry for 漢字 :
As you can see here, the entry itself is word for word the same, but while the 7th edition notes at the end that Kanji is related to kana, the 8th edition gives a nice link for the entry on which helps provide some more context and help place it correctly.
Just one last example to showcase some useful differences, when we’re looking at 政府 :
besides some differences in definitions we also see one of the other useful differences. You can see two stars above the word in the 8th edition, this is to notify us that this is (according to the editors) one of the “most useful words”, so if we see this we know to pay special attention to it to remember it well 
Quick question regarding symbols from 三省堂:
Any idea why the first definition is enclosed in 〔〕brackets?
Sure! Those brackets indicate extra information about the word, etymology and the like, as can be read under “この辞書のきまり” in the appendix.
〔 〕
語源・原語・用字法・補足説明など、種々の注記。（ ）とは意味が違います。
Publisher : 三省堂
Number of words : 14,500 words
Sorry for the late response, I’ve been quite busy over the past month with other obligations, and have neglected this thread (and sadly will be neglecting it for a bit longer still) 
I’ve had a quick peruse of the Youjiyougo over the past few days during short breaks and the like, so I can give you a quick overview of my likes and dislikes with it, though you shouldn’t consider this a thorough review as I haven’t worked my way through it entirely yet.
But I’ll start out by saying that I wouldn’t really recommend people picking this one up if they are looking for a dictionary or the like, as it doesn’t really serve that function. It does however have some other stuff that I quite like personally, but I would still caution people to only purchase this if they either were to be interested in / professionally need something that could help them in a writing / proofreading capacity, or if they are just interested in lots of usage notes and the like.
Now, on to one of the first things that I really like, which you’ll access most easily by going to the appendix and choosing the コラム category, here you’ll find a list of all manner of words with use-cases, cautions, important cultural things to take into consideration with word use and the like. Is the list exhaustive and super long? Probably not, as it has only 53 entries, but it does provide some useful extra information in quite a few cases, I’ll include a few entries to demonstrate, there are other entries that provide some context for sure, but it seems that, unless I’ve missed others, only those here have a short article on context :
As for the rest of the entries, it mostly contains really short entries on people, companies, words and the like, often just the word as is, sometimes providing some extra information. A few entries as example (note : These are all full entries) :
エジソン（トーマス）［Thomas Alva Edison］
発明家。（米1847～1931）
でんぱ［伝播］
→ 広がる、波及 でんぱん
にくせい 肉声
マイク、電話などの機械を通して出る声ではなく、人の口から発せられる音声。
△「○○の肉声を記録した歴史的資料」 ＊近年、「その人自身の発言」といった意味でも使われている。
In what aspects does this dictionary shine? Specificity in how words should / shouldn’t be used, and providing specific context if needed. This can be great to enrich your vocabulary, but I see it more as a resource to read through than a dictionary to consult on encountered terms personally. I do think it could potentially be a great language resource, but I don’t think it can be considered a good dictionary for how us language learners would consult it at least. (Though I do love the appendix entries quite a lot ^^)