Lingua Mundi

Research-grade Japanese tools, built on real dictionary data

One engine, two ways to use it: Shikibu, the EPUB editor for reading and annotating Japanese books, and the Lingua Mundi API — a dictionary and linguistic-data service built on JMdict, WordNet, KANJIDIC2, and J-UniMorph. Every lookup traces to source data, never a guess.

Open the Planetarium See the products

The Planetarium

a star map of meaning

Start here, before the apps. Every word we know across six languages is a star, and the same idea in several languages is one star — cat · gato · 猫 · chat. The lines between them are the relations the database carries. This is the whole six-language concept graph, walkable: our hero product, and the fastest way to see what Lingua Mundi actually is.

Open the Planetarium Research paper The dictionary

Shikibu

EPUB editor · Android APK + desktop app

Open a Japanese EPUB, add furigana in one click, annotate vocabulary and grammar, run linguistic searches across the whole book, and export a clean, spec-compliant EPUB. Pro adds a full offline dictionary powered by the Lingua Mundi database.

Download Shikibu

Lingua Mundi API

Dictionary & linguistic data over one simple API

Look up words, furigana, deinflections, senses, kanji data, and inflection paradigms through a simple HTTP API. Start free; Pro ($9/mo) adds API keys and higher limits.

Open the dashboard

Shikibu on Android

Companion EPUB reader/annotator

The Shikibu EPUB editor as an Android companion app — open, annotate, and add furigana to Japanese EPUBs on your phone. Install the APK directly.

Download Android APK

Try the dictionary

Lingua Mundi GUI — online & offline

Look up Japanese words in the interactive dictionary: type a word, get furigana, senses, readings, and kanji details — straight from the Lingua Mundi database. Works online, or bundled with your own copy of the database.

Open the dictionary Read the guide

Download Shikibu for your computer

Shikibu runs on Windows, Linux, and Android. The desktop installers below are self-contained: no account, no server, no data leaves your machine.

Download ZIP (any OS) Download .exe (Windows) Download .deb (Linux)
⬇ Shikibu Pro — .deb (Linux) ⬇ Shikibu Pro — .exe (Windows)

Shikibu Pro unlocks with an evaluation key (SHIK-…). Without a key the Pro installer runs in locked mode. Keys are not on sale yet — the store will say when.

New to Shikibu? Read the beginner's guide to open your first Japanese book — about five minutes, no technical background needed.

Read the research paper

How one researcher built a six-language map of meaning from open lexical data on a 2014 laptop — the full project history, technical account, and the infrastructure bug that hid the word cat.

Read the paper Listen (MP3)

An audiobook edition (.m4b) and chapter downloads are on the paper page.

Contact

Questions or feedback: rhls.softdev@gmail.com