Skip to main content
Glama

mcp-jisho

Jisho.org Japanese-English dictionary MCP (keyless).

Part of Pipeworx — an MCP gateway connecting AI agents to 1683+ live data sources.

Tools

Tool

Description

search_words

Search the Jisho.org Japanese<->English dictionary. The keyword can be English (translate to Japanese), Japanese kanji/kana, or romaji. Returns up to limit matching dictionary entries, each with the headword (slug), whether it is a common word, JLPT level, all readings/spellings, and English meanings grouped into senses with parts of speech. Use this to translate, look up a kanji/kana word, or find Japanese words for an English concept.

lookup

Look up a single Japanese or English word in the Jisho.org dictionary and return only the single best/first matching entry in a compact form: headword (slug), common-ness, JLPT level, all readings, a flat list of English meanings, and the unique parts of speech. Best for quick "what does this word mean / how is it read" questions. Accepts kanji, kana, romaji, or English.

Related MCP server: Yomitan MCP Server

Quick Start

Add to your MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, etc.):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "jisho": {
      "url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/jisho/mcp"
    }
  }
}

What this endpoint actually serves

tools/list at https://gateway.pipeworx.io/jisho/mcp returns the tools in the table above plus the shared Pipeworx meta-tools — ask_pipeworx, discover_tools, search_within, remember/recall and the rest of the gateway-wide set. So the tool count you see is larger than this table: a single-pack endpoint currently lists roughly 30 shared tools alongside the pack's own. The connection's initialize response states its exact scope, and is the authoritative answer for a given day.

This is deliberate, not multiplexing by accident. The meta-tools are what let a scoped connection answer a question this pack does not cover — via ask_pipeworx, which routes across the whole catalog — without you adding a second MCP server. There is currently no way to mount a pack endpoint without them; if the extra schemas cost you more context than the routing is worth, connect to the full gateway once rather than to several pack endpoints.

Or connect to the full Pipeworx gateway to get every pack's tools listed directly, instead of just this one's:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pipeworx": {
      "url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Both URLs reach the same gateway and the same 1683+ data sources. The only difference is which pack's tools are listed directly; ask_pipeworx reaches all of them from either one.

No MCP client? Call it over HTTP

curl -X POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/search_words \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"keyword":"house"}'

No account needed for the first calls. Inspect any tool: GET https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/search_words. Find one: POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/search_packs with {"query":"..."}.

Standalone (no gateway account)

This package also runs as a local stdio MCP server — no Pipeworx account, no gateway round-trip:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "jisho": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@pipeworx/mcp-jisho"]
    }
  }
}

Or run it directly to confirm it starts:

npx -y @pipeworx/mcp-jisho

It speaks MCP over stdin/stdout and answers initialize/tools/list/tools/call for only this pack's tools — none of the shared meta-tools the gateway connection above adds. Same source, same tools, no ask_pipeworx routing.

Using with ask_pipeworx

Instead of calling tools directly, you can ask questions in plain English — this works on the pack endpoint above as well as on the full gateway:

ask_pipeworx({ question: "your question about Jisho data" })

The gateway picks the right tool and fills the arguments automatically.

More

License

MIT

Related MCP Connectors

Related MCP Servers

  • A
    license
    A
    quality
    C
    maintenance
    Provides AI agents with direct access to local Yomitan dictionary databases for offline Japanese vocabulary lookups, kanji searches, and sentence tokenization. It leverages the Yomitan browser extension's API to enable rich dictionary interactions and Anki flashcard field generation.
    5
    8 npm
    6
    Mozilla Public 2.0
  • A
    license
    A
    quality
    D
    maintenance
    Enables Japanese word lookup and search using the Jisho.org dictionary, providing tools to search entries and retrieve exact word definitions with JLPT levels and parts of speech.
    2
    2
    MIT
  • A
    license
    Not graded
    quality
    D
    maintenance
    Enables AI agents to query Japanese public data (laws, corporations, statistics) from official government APIs, returning normalized English metadata with source attribution.
    1
    MIT