The handwritten copy of the Ishinpō in the “Gohon - Nakarai family’s edition” in Japan contains a large number of marginal notes on phonetic notations and semantic explanations quoted from Chinese dictionaries. It is an important material for studying the overseas dissemination of Chinese characters and their usage forms in the Middle Ages. This article selects the second volume of this handwritten copy as the main research object. Combining the content of the marginal notes with the materials of character books in different dynasties, it conducts in-depth textual research and verification on difficult characters or semantic explanations such as Xin ( ), Huang (䀮), Chi (瘛), Zhi (𣛰), Liao (𢨺), Nao (臑), Luo (濼) and XieYi (解㑊) that appear in the marginal notes, and clarifies that Xin ( ) is the vulgar form of Xin (囟), Huang (䀮) is a character with the sound component replaced for Mang (盲), the original form of Chi (瘛) is Chi (𤸪), Zhi (𣛰) is a miswritten form of Zhi (榰), Liao (𢨺) should originally be Liao (窌) and should be distinguished from Liao (髎), the original form of Nao (臑) is Er (胹), and there is also a cognate character Ruan (腝), Luo (濼) is a part of XiaoLuo (消濼), this word should be the abbreviated form of XiaoYinLuo (消淫濼) and can be interpreted as meaning “to eliminate soreness and weakness”, and XieYi (解㑊) is a variant writing of XieYi (懈伿), and Yi (㑊) is a later variant of Yi (伿).

Cognitive point of view is the focus of attention that people observe objects based on their life experiences, customs and habits, including front view, side view, perspective view, etc. Chinese characters originated from pictures and symbols. Han characters originated from pictures and marks, among which, hieroglyphic characters are created by the method of “painting the object and interrogating it according to the body”, inheriting and preserving most of the characteristics of primitive pictures, which are the most powerful and preserving the cognitive focus of the forefathers at that time. This paper starts from the hieroglyphic system of Shuowen (説文), combines the theories of experiential philosophy of cognitive linguistics and visual perception in art to explore the cognitive viewpoints of the forefathers when they made the hieroglyphic characters and the reasons for it, and categorizes the cognitive viewpoints of hieroglyphic characters of Shuowen (説文) to further deepen the understanding of hieroglyphic characters.

Quda (渠答) is an ancient military literature word, many military books and dictionaries of past dynasties interpreted Quda (渠答) as Tiejili (铁蒺藜). Some scholars have raised objections to this, believing that Quda (渠答) and Tiejili (铁蒺藜) are not the same thing. However, the specific shape of Quda (渠答) has always been controversial. The paper argues that Qu (渠) and Da (答) are two kinds of city guard instruments, Qu (渠) is a large wooden shield, Da (答) is also written Da (荅), which is a protective curtain made with straw and bamboo. Da (答) covers the Qu (渠), so Qu (渠) and Da (答) are often associated, the words Qu (渠) and Da (答) in the literature have evolved into a polysyllabic word, which refers to the facilities of guarding the city against the enemy. Quchan (渠幨) is also written Quzhan (渠譫), Chan (幨) is a protective curtain made of cloth. Quzhan (渠幨) and Quda (渠答) are made of different materials, however, after generalization, the two meanings are close to each other.

Every meaning of the common word “Qin (親)” in Chinese has been seen in ancient times. However, its meaning of “kiss” only appeared at the end of Ming Dynasty. Scholars generally believe that this meaning is derived from extended meaning, which is worth discussing. Before the Tang Dynasty, the meaning of “kiss” was only expressed by “Wu (嗚)” and its polyphonic form. “Xin (噷)” appeared in the Song Dynasty, “Qin (唚)” and “Qin (親)” appeared in the Ming Dynasty. “Qin (親)” and “Qin (唚)” are the phonetic loan character of “Xin (噷)”. As the tail vowel [-m] final vanishes and the confluence of sharp and rounded sounds, the three sounds tend to be the same, “Xin (噷)” is a rare word, the common writing “Qin (唚)” with the change of phonetic sign and homophone substitution word “Qin (親)” appeared in the folk. “Qin (親)” has the meaning of “contact”. It is easier to establish semantic association with the meaning of “kiss” and becomes the dominant word in the concept field of “kiss”. “Xin (噷)” and “Qin (唚)” exist only in spoken dialect. “Xin (噷)” is the subsequent character of “Xin (歆)”, the “kiss” meaning of “Xin (噷)” is an extension of the “smell” meaning of “Xin (歆)”. In order to find the source of words, we should use the method of finding words based on meaning and sound, combine with dialect materials, and link up the homophone and synonymy of variant words. Only by breaking through the restriction of glyphs, can we find out the writing form containing the etymological basis of many variant words.

Child education (xiaoxue, 小學) literature of the original manuscript of Yupian quoted includes approximately eleven kinds, and the quotation of the literature is about 2,936 times. What is found, in comparison with the standing version of child education literature, is that there are many lexical and expressional relations worth examining and distinguishing in the original manuscript of Yupian quoted, which includes those of characters of the borrowing, the misused, the variant form, the mutual usage, and so on. The value of research into the words and expressions in child education literature of the original manuscript of Yupian quoted is in fact inestimable especially in terms of philology, lexicology, and literary studies. Not only can it explain the abovementioned relations but calibrate the variant forms, folk characters, and semantic errors in dictionary entries. Moreover, it can supplement the errors in omission, and also offer some materials of differentiation between the original manuscript of Yupian and the standing version of child education literature.

As a result of the National Social Science Foundation Project hosted by Professor Zhao Hong for several decades, the Dictionary of the Non-Classical Word in Turpan Manuscripts was published by Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House in December 2019 after long expectations. As for the form of a dictionary, it draws out the non-classical word in Turpan Manuscripts, and collects extensive materials. Furthermore, the practice of writing is fine and appropriate, and the collected glyphs are also full and rich. So, it shows us the whole appearance of using the non-classical word among the people in Turpan. It is a classic of this international study——Turpan Studies. This paper briefly introduces the dictionary’s practice, features, value and some shortcomings so that scholars can understand the dictionary better.