Kotobank (コトバンク, Kotobanku) is a Japanese-language online encyclopedia which allows users to search across dictionaries, encyclopedias, and databases provided by publishers and others. It is operated by Voyage Marketing Co. At launch, the service's name was in rōmaji, but has since been stylized in katakana. In June 2008, The Asahi Shimbun and EC Navi Inc. launched the "Minna no Chiezo" service, an online version of "Chiezo," a dictionary of modern terms that was once published. The service was rebuilt as a dictionary platform in which various companies could participate. The "kotobank" service was launched on April 23, 2009, under the management of The Asahi Shimbun and EC Navi Inc. At launch, it claimed to cover a total of 430,000 entries from 44 dictionaries and encyclopedias, the core of which were provided by Kodansha, Shogakukan, and Asahi Shimbun Publishing. As the site had strong ties with The Asahi Shimbun, related news from The Asahi Shimbun's website, asahi.com, appeared on its pages. More information...
According to PR-model, kotobank.jp is ranked 178th in multilingual Wikipedia, in particular this website is ranked 14th in Japanese Wikipedia.
The website is placed before oxforddnb.com and after indiewire.com in the BestRef global ranking of the most important sources of Wikipedia.
