Okinawan Heart

System of Kanji Indexing by Pattern (SKIP)

For students of kanji calligraphy, the Japanese and Chinese Languages, and other Asian arts, one of the most difficult barriers to cross is acquiring the ability to deal with kanji without the aid of a native speaker. Due to the large number of kanji characters, it is easy for students to become frustrated while searching through dictionaries trying to identitfy characters.

The simple solution to this problem is SKIP, the System of Kanji Indexing by Patterns. SKIP is a modern, easy to use system of kanji classification designed specifically for English speaking students and researchers that allows even those with little or no knowledge of kanji to locate characters based on their appearance.

Though this book does not provide a detailed explanation of how to use SKIP patterns or numbers, we have provided the SKIP codes and patterns used for each of the 166 kanji characters covered in the Character Library of this book. It is the opinion of the editor that calligraphy students should become familiar with the many advantages of learning SKIP.

For more information about the SKIP system and the kanji dictionaries that utilize it, see the links section.

The author and editor offer our sincere thanks to Mr. Jack Halpern for allowing use to show SKIP data in this book.

SKIP is Copyright©1993 by Jack Halpern. Use of SKIP patterns and codes is strickly forbidden without the written authorization of the copyright holder.