by its number from the dictionary.
The style of character which seems most promising for digitalization is represented by the simplified square characters in Nelson's dictionary32 . These contain hairline horizontal strokes, tapered inclined strokes, and heavy line vertical strokes. Before the characters can be digitalized a decision must be made as to the conversion factor to be used for length from inches to raster units.
Character Conversion
The simplest character of all is No. 0001 (ichi = one). It consists of a horizontal line with a triangular spot at the right end.
The thickness of the line is 0.010 in. and the length of the line is 0.270 in. The triangle has a base line of 0.060 in. and an altitude of 0.040 in. The vertex of the triangle is 0.010 in. to the left of the center of its base line.
Character No. 0768 (jū - ten) differs from character No. 0001 by the addition of a vertical stroke. The horizontal stroke is reduced to a thickness of 0.005 in. and a length of 0.260 in. The triangle has a base line of 0.055 in. and an altitude of 0.034 in. The vertical stroke has a thickness of 0.032 in. and a height of 0.258 in.
Character No. 2170 (ki = tree) differs from character No. 0768 by the addition of a pair of diagonal and curved strokes which extend downward to the left and to the right from the center. The horizontal stroke has a length of 0.254 in. and the vertical stroke has a height of 0.263 in. This character occurs as the radical of an especially large number of other characters. When it is used as a radical it is compressed horizontally. In character No. 2379 (ki = opportunity) the horizontal stroke has a length of only 0.093 in. The triangular spot has a base line of 0.030 in. and an altitude of 0.020 in.
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