Dictionary search and kanji input

Tap the tab named "Dictionary". On the top of the screen, you will the search bar:



You can enter hiragana and katakana characters using the keyboard, and kanji characters using the kanji lookup methods. You can also use your platform's native Japanese input method if available. Enter your search string into (2). Hint: You can always activate this field by pressing backspace on the keyboard.

The buttoms perform the following actions:

(1) Clear: Clear the search string.

(3) Perform the search. Hint: You can also perform the search by pressing enter on the keyboard.

(4) Match mode: Use this button to select Exact, Beginning, Anywhere or End search mode. Hint: You can also cycle through the search modes by activating the search string field and then pressing up on the keyboard.

(5) Input mode: Use this button to select Hiragana, Katakana or English (Latin) input mode. Hint: You can also cycle through the input modes by activating the search string field and then pressing down on the keyboard.

Search results and item popup menus

The search results are presented in the "Search results" tab below the Search Bar:


An "item" in the Jards context means a word or kanji character. View (1) shows the search result in compact form, while (2) shows an expanded view of the currently selected item. Using the so-called item popup menus, you can perform various actions on items. Tap the kanji characters in (2) to bring up the kanji popup menu, or the reading (kana) to bring up the word popup menu. Hint: Search results can be navigated using the keyboard. Press up/down to move among the items in (1), or left/right change character focus in (2). Press space to bring up the popup menu for the currently focused character.

(3) To list: Adds the selected item to the currently active study list.

(4) Details: Shows details for the selected item.

As already mentioned, tapping a kanji brings up the kanji popup menu, and tapping the kana brings up the word popup menu. The menus look like this:

Word popup menu -

The actions available on the Word popup correspond to buttons (3) and (4) on the search results screen.

Kanji popup menu -

In addition to the "Detailed Info" and "Add to current list" alternatives, the kanji popup menu provides the following actions:
"Insert into search string": Insert this character into the search string field at the current cursor position.
"Radicals to kanji search": Select the radicals that this character contains on the kanji search screen, and focus the kanji search screen.

Kanji input

Kanji can be input using handwriting recognition, or searched for using a number of search terms. Recently looked up kanji are available for quick access on the Recent screen. If the "Kanji input" tab isn't focused, tap it. You can now select input mode using these buttons:


From top to bottom: Handwriting mode, kanji search mode, recently looked up characters.

Handwritten kanji input


Draw the character in (1). The candidate kanji appear as buttons in field (2). Tapping a candidate button inserts the character into the search string. Tapping and holding for half a second brings up the kanji popup menu. Button (3) undoes the last stroke, while button (4) clears the drawing area. Hint: Stroke order matters!

Kanji search


(1): Search terms. Tapping a checkbox activates the corresponding search term. You can narrow down your search by adding more search terms. The following search terms can be used:

Radicals: Tap the button next to the "Radicals" label to select radicals. In the radical select dialog that appears, you can add and remove radicals by tapping them.

Readings: Tap the button next to the "Readings" label to select readings. Currently only onyomi is available.

Strokes: Select the number of strokes in the character. You can also supply an allowed deviation in the +/- box.

Tap (3) to perform the search. The results appear in field (2), where they can be tapped to bring up the kanji popup menu.