An Ainu–English–Japanese Dictionary/Preface
Sixteen years have elapsed since the publication of the compiler's last Ainu Dictionary, and during that period of time he has had the work constantly before him correcting and enlarging it. It was not his original intention to print a new dictionary and the work of revision was only done by way of recreation and for the purposes of his private work as a Missionary among the Ainu. But inasmuch as the first edition has been long out of print, and during the last decade more than five hundred friends have asked for copies, he has thought it advisable to once more place the results of his studies before the public in the form asked for. And, in doing this the Author desires to express his best thanks to the following Gentlemen. First, to His Excellency Baron Sonoda, Governor General of Hokkaidō, for the great interest and sympathy he has shown in the publication of this work and to whom it has been respectfully dedicated. Next to Mr. K. Yamada, sometime Chief Inspector of Schools for the Hokkaidōchō, for the cordial assistance he has rendered in recommending the book to all Japanese educationalists throughout the Empire. Then to his great Friend Dr. Miyabe Professor of Botany in the Agricultural College of Sapporo for his great kindness in supplying him with, as well as examining and correcting, all the scientific names of trees and plants found in this volume; and to Mr. S. Nozawa, of the Fisheries Bureau, Hokkaidōchō, for so cordially doing the like in the various branches of zoölogy. Next the Author thanks his Friend Mr. S. Fujimura, likewise of the Fisheries Bureau, for so readily consenting to read his manuscripts and for correcting the Japanese before sending the work to the Press. And lastly, but by no means least, very heartily does he thank his old Friend and Fellow Student of the Ainu Language—Professor K. Jimbō, of The Imperial University, Tōkyō, for undertaking the arduous task of assisting in reading the proofs, and for his suggestions with regard to the kana writing and other matters such as pointing out printers errors, mistranslations and other oversights. It was a very great advantage to have one to read the proofs who has studied the languages in which the book is written, and whose native tongue is one of them.
As the work was printed by a Japanese firm at Tōkyō, nearly a thousand miles from the writer's home in Sapporo, the table of errata will be found to be considerably larger than it would have been had he been in a position to see the proofs oftener. This must be the excuse for so long a list, for which, also, every apology is made. The errata belonging to the Dictionary part will be found at the end of the Dictionary, while those appertaining to the Grammar will be found at the end of the book.