新明解国語辞典
First edition : 1972
Latest edition : 2020 (8th edition)
Publisher : 三省堂
Word count : 79.000 words
Nicknames : 新明国／新解さん
An apt description of what lies at the core of the philosophy of this dictionary can be found in the preface :
すなわち、『新明解国語辞典』の当初からの特徴である、ことばの本質をとらえた鋭い語釈と、それを裏付ける適切な用例を一体化して提示すること、これを本辞典の中核に据えた。
The best-selling Japanese dictionary in Japan. This dictionary is well known for it’s deeper dives into words, with good explanations on how words are actually used and the actual sense of the language. This goes beyond paraphrasing and mere explanation of usage, and gets to the true core of the words. All headwords are accented (and pronunciations are included with the digital version), which is a nice feature. They have also spent more care in the eighth edition to divide these accents up depending on how the word is used! (Also, there are quite a lot of subheadings with accent included). The dictionary also tries to keep up with the times quite well, including quite a variety of new words.
There are also some interesting appendices included, such as one on how to count for example.
肉 entry in Monokakido app :
Interesting tidbit :
The most popular edition with dictionary collector’s isn’t the most recent one or the first edition as you would expect, but instead it’s the fourth edition. One of the suspected reasons for this is due to 赤瀬川原平’s essay 新解さんの謎 which explores some of the interesting and unique explanations of the 新明解国語辞典, and the fourth edition would be the one referred to in this essay.