The lexicon of Japanese contains a large number of conventional mimetic words which vividly depict sounds, manners of action and states of mind. These words are notable for their distinctive synactic properties, for the strikingly patterned way in which they exploit sound-symbolic correspondences, and for the copiousness of their use in conversation as well as in many written registers of Japanese. Examples created by the editors are accompanied by thousands of contextualized, referenced examples from published sources to illustrate the alternative meanings of each mimetic form. All examples appear in Japanese orthography, in romanization and in English translation. Concise information is provided concerning the varieties of syntactic usage appropriate for each mimetic. An extensive English index facilitates comparison of English and Japanese vocabulary.