This dictionary is based on the eighth edition of the Shinsen Kanwa Jiten (Chinese-Japanese character dictionary), which is a revised version of a complete original Chinese-Japanese character dictionary that fully conforms with the new list of Chinese characters (kanji) designated for everyday use (Shin Joyo-kanji Hyo) announced in the fall of 2010. Revisions, such as to examples of usage and character compounds, have been carried out to make this an excellent Chinese-Japanese character dictionary for both language study and practical use.

The dictionary gives a full listing of the JIS Level 1 to Level 4 kanji and supplementary kanji*. To deepen understanding of the kanji that is the subject of each entry, every effort has been made to include additional important information on kanji, such as boxes for kanji meanings, explanations of the derivation of kanji forms, kanji usage, non-standard kanji variants and diagrams showing the original and derived definitions of kanji. In addition, the dictionary contains not only important words from Chinese classics and idioms derived from historical events or Chinese classical literature, but also kanji expressions that aid in the reading of Japanese classics and that are necessary in daily life in Japan.

The Shinsen Kanwa Jiten, web edition contains approximately 11,500 kanji entries and 55,700 character compounds.

In addition to searches by the written forms or readings (pronunciation) of kanji entries, searches for traditional-style characters, character variants, and character compounds are also possible, as are searches for character entries by stroke count and kanji code. The Shinsen Kanwa Jiten, web edition is also equipped with a kanji radical function that makes it possible to search for character entries from their radicals. As well as explanations of the radicals, since a list of character entries that contain a certain radical is given, it is possible to find a character even if its reading or stroke count are unknown.

* In the Shinsen Kanwa Jiten, web edition, changes have been made to some of the kanji entries in the printed book edition. For details, please see here.