Kotobase

A Comprehensive Japanese Language Database

Kotobase is a python package that aggregates several openly licensed Japanese Language data sources into one SQLite database and exposes simple programmatic access to it

Quickstart

Install

pip install kotobase

Get The Database File

# Get The Latest Release From GitHub
kotobase db pull

# Download Sources & Build Locally
kotobase db build

Access Data

CLI

# Runs Comprehensive Lookup Across All Sources
kotobase lookup all 日本語

Python

from kotobase import Kotobase

kb = Kotobase()

result = kb("日本語")

Features

Comprehensive Lookups	One lookup all Query Aggregates Data From All Souces
Organized Data	Every Source Is Fully Extracted Into A Normalized SQLite Schema & Exposed As Typed, Serializable DTOs
Example Sentences	Search Tatoeba Example Sentences + Their English Translation By Text
Wildcard Search	Match Written / Reading Forms With * & % Wildcard Patterns
CLI	A Typer + Rich CLI With Readable, Panelled Output & --json For Scripting
Self-Contained	A Single SQLite (~400MB) File + Optional Audio Pack (~150MB) With No Server / Network Access Needed At Query Time
Easy Database Management	Pull Pre-Built Databases From GitHub Releases Or Build It Locally + Manage The Cache From The CLI

Help

Documentation	Full API + CLI Reference
Examples	Curated Usage Examples
Changelog	Changes Between Versions

Data Sources & Licenses

Every source is openly licensed

The compiled database is a derived work of the sources below, and each row keeps its source and license where appropariate

See the Third-Party Notices for the full attribution text

Source	Provides	License
JMdict	Dictionary Entries → Written + Reading Forms / Senses, Glosses, Part-Of-Speech / Register / Field / Dialect Tags, Priorities	CC BY-SA 4.0
JMNedict	Proper Names → People / Places / Organisations + Their Types	CC BY-SA 4.0
KanjiDic2	Kanji Profiles → Readings / Meanings / Stroke Counts / Grades / Frequencies / SKIP / Dictionary References	CC BY-SA 4.0
KRADFILE / RADKFILE	Kanji To Radical Decomposition For Radical Search	CC BY-SA 4.0
JmdictFurigana	Per-Form Furigana Segmentation	CC BY-SA 4.0
KanjiVG	Stroke-Order SVG Paths	CC BY-SA 3.0
Tatoeba	Example Sentences With Japanese To English Translations	CC BY 2.0 FR
Tanos JLPT	JLPT Vocabulary / Kanji / Grammar Study Lists	CC BY 4.0
Kanji Alive	Word Pronunciation Audio (Optional Download)	CC BY 4.0

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Contributing

• All contributions are welcome

• See CONTRIBUTING for local setup, commands, and PR conventions