Alternative Readings
Alternative Readings is a Japanese dictionary of all the possible readings a kanji can assume anywhere on the Japanese dictionary. For the absolute dismay of Japanese students, the number of ways one can read a kanji goes WAY beyond its "official" on'yomi and kun'yomi readings. There are hundreds of exceptions, and this dictionary tries to map those exceptions.
Take for example, "yukata" - the light kimono worn in summer (浴衣). 浴 is read as "yoku", but you won't find the reading "yu" on any dictionary. Same for 衣, which can be read as "koromo", "kinu" or "kiru", but you won't find "kata" anywhere. So why does this happen? For a lot of reasons, varying from some kanji borrowing readings from other kanji with the same meaning, to remanescent Chinese readings which didn't change for centuries.
Here's "yu", along with all the other kanji that can assume this reading:
And here's the "kata", along with all the other kanji that can assume this reading:
For curiosity's sake, here's 浴 on a Chinese dictionary. Look at its Chinese reading:
This dictionary is available in the Suite.
