== Overview of the files included in this archive ==

README_en.txt           This file
README_ja.txt           This file in Japanese
LICENSE.txt             Usage license
dump_newest_only.txt    All glyphs; latest versions only
dump_all_versions.txt   All glyphs; all versions


== About the data ==

Within this dataset the shapes of a plethora of Chinese characters is
expressed in the form of skeletal data. One line in the data files
corresponds to one such glyph; the first column is its name, the rest is
glyph data. The names are the same as the glyph names registered at
GlyphWiki [1]. Glyph names in "dump_all_versions.txt" are suffixed with
the at-mark (@), followed by the version number. "@1" indicates the
oldest version of a glyph, each newer version increments the version
counter. Occasionally, consecutive versions of a glyph represent the
exact same shape; in these cases meta-data was altered, causing the
version counter to be incremented.

The glyph data uses the KAGE notation. This system expresses the shape
of a glyph by describing the stroke skeleton and appearance data on a
stroke-for-stroke basis. For more information on the KAGE system, please
have a look at [2].

The data registered at GlyphWiki is periodically back-upped, and made
available in the form of this archive. Amendments and new glyphs can be
freely submitted to GlyphWiki. Images of glyphs, as well as Truetype
fonts containing sets of glyphs can be generated and freely downloaded
at GlyphWiki.


== Practical use of the data ==

The actual shape of the Chinese characters can be generated by "fleshing
out" the skeletal data of the glyphs. Currently implementations of this
type of software include an engine capable of drawing glyphs in the
Mincho style [3]. Other publicly available software includes [4][5].


== Links ==

[1] GlyphWiki: https://glyphwiki.org/
[2] KAGE system: https://glyphwiki.org/wiki/GlyphWiki:KAGE%e3%83%87%e3%83%bc%e3%82%bf%e4%bb%95%e6%a7%98
[3] KAGE/engine: https://github.com/kamichikoichi/kage-engine/
[4] GlyphWiki Drawfont Tool
    https://sourceforge.net/projects/gwdrawfonttool/
[5] kage-editor
    https://github.com/kurgm/kage-editor