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Third-party content notices

This project bundles content from the following third-party sources. Each is attributed below per its license.

KanjiVG

• What it is: stroke-order SVG diagrams for the 106 N5-syllabus kanji.
• Source: <https://kanjivg.tagaini.net/>
• Repository: <https://github.com/KanjiVG/kanjivg>
• Files: svg/kanji/<glyph>.svg (106 files, one per N5 kanji)
• License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0)
• License text: <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>
• Copyright: © 2009 - 2011 Ulrich Apel
• Modifications: the SVG content is unmodified from upstream; only the file

names are changed (codepoint-hex <NNNNN>.svg → literal-glyph <漢>.svg) to keep the on-disk filenames learner-readable. The SVG payload itself (stroke paths, numbering, viewBox, original copyright header) is preserved byte-for-byte.

Per CC BY-SA 3.0:

• You are free to share and adapt this content provided you give appropriate

credit (which this file does), and any derivative work is distributed under the same or a compatible license.

• The KanjiVG SVG files in svg/kanji/ retain their original CC BY-SA 3.0

license. The rest of the project is governed by its own LICENSE.

Microsoft Edge TTS (legacy — not currently shipped)

> 2026-05-12 update: as of release v1.14.1, the 50 listening > drills are rendered with VOICEVOX (6-speaker age-band variety per > ISSUE-114 closure). Edge TTS is no longer the active listening > renderer. The historical edge-TTS renders (with 4 voices: > Nanami / Keita / Aoi / Daichi) are preserved at > audio/_backup_edge_tts_listening_2026_05_12/ for reference / revert. > > The edge-TTS attribution section below is retained for historical > accuracy of the v1.13.x — v1.14.0 releases. The > tools/build_listening_audio_multivoice_2026_05_07.py script that > handled edge-TTS rendering remains in the repo for future > contributors who may want it. > > F-13 (2026-05-11): edge-TTS replaced VOICEVOX between > 2026-05-07 (initial multi-voice render) and 2026-05-11 (legal > attribution correction). Now (2026-05-12) it has flipped back to > VOICEVOX with proper attribution.

• What it is: Microsoft Edge TTS service exposes Microsoft's

Cognitive Services Neural voices over a WebSocket endpoint (speech.platform.bing.com). Free, no API key, used build-time only via the edge-tts Python library to render the 47 listening-drill MP3s under audio/listening/.

• Engine library: edge-tts

(MIT licence — wrapper around Microsoft's TTS WebSocket endpoint).

• Service endpoint: Microsoft Cognitive Services Speech

(speech.platform.bing.com), governed by Microsoft's terms of service for non-commercial use of the synthesized output.

• Voices used (4):

- ja-JP-NanamiNeural (Nanami, female adult) - ja-JP-KeitaNeural (Keita, male adult) - ja-JP-AoiNeural (Aoi, female adult) - ja-JP-DaichiNeural (Daichi, male adult)

• Speaker-to-role mapping: captured per item in

data/listening.json#voice_planned.speaker_role_map (女→Nanami/Aoi, 男→Keita/Daichi, narrator→primary). The runtime UI surfaces the voices used per item under each audio player (per legal-vetting F-10 close-out 2026-05-11).

• License (synthesized output): Microsoft permits use of

Cognitive Services TTS output in non-commercial and educational contexts, with attribution. This file + the runtime #/notices viewer satisfy that attribution. The free-tier endpoint (no API key) is explicitly designed for inclusion in client apps; output redistribution as part of an open-source educational tool is a documented permitted use case.

• No defamatory / R-rated / political-misuse contexts. Every

listening item in data/listening.json is a plain JLPT-N5 practice prompt — none of those exclusions apply.

• Files: audio/listening/*.mp3 (47 files rendered, 3 items

not yet rendered); per-item voice mapping captured in data/audio_manifest_voice.json and the per-item audio_render_meta.voices_used array in data/listening.json.

• Build pipeline: AUDIO.md +

tools/build_listening_audio_multivoice_2026_05_07.py.

• Fallback path (documented, not currently used for LISTENING audio):

the builder supports VOICEVOX engine running on localhost:50021 as an offline fallback for listening. Not currently exercised for shipped listening audio (still edge-TTS per F-13 above). VOICEVOX IS used for grammar audio — see the next section.

VOICEVOX (synthesized grammar example audio — Japanese)

> Added 2026-05-12 (audio quality lift): the 1782 grammar example > audio files (audio/grammar/*.mp3) were re-rendered from gTTS to > VOICEVOX for substantially better Japanese prosody, natural pitch- > accent placement, and consonant transitions. Prior gTTS renders are > preserved as a backup at audio/_backup_gtts_2026_05_12/grammar/.

• What it is: VOICEVOX is an open-source Japanese text-to-speech

engine bundling multiple character voice models. Renders happen build-time only; the runtime <audio> element references the pre-rendered MP3 paths so no engine/network call is needed in the shipped PWA.

• Engine: VOICEVOX v0.25.2 (CPU

build) — local HTTP API on localhost:50021, two-step /audio_query → /synthesis pipeline. The engine binary is not bundled with this repo (≈12 GB install); contributors render locally using tools/build_audio_voicevox.py.

• Engine license: LGPL-3.0 (engine) — the engine binary is not

redistributed, only its synthesized output (MP3 files). Output licence is governed by each speaker character's own term sheet.

• Speakers / characters used (6 total across grammar + listening + kanji):

- 春日部つむぎ (Kasukabe Tsumugi) — style: ノーマル, speaker_id 8, speaker_uuid 35b2c544-660e-401e-b503-0e14c635303a. Used for: all 1782 grammar example renders, half of listening items, all 259 kanji per-yomi renders. Character maintained by the 春日部つむぎ project (separate from the VOICEVOX engine itself; see <https://tsukushinyoki10.wixsite.com/ktsumugiofficial> for the canonical character terms). - 玄野武宏 (Kurono Takehiro) — style: ノーマル, speaker_id 11. Used for: listening items 1-9, 26-33, 34-42 (adult male role). - 四国めたん (Shikoku Metan) — style: ノーマル, speaker_id 2. Used for: listening items 10-17, 34-42 (young female role). - ずんだもん (Zundamon) — style: ノーマル, speaker_id 3. Used for: listening items 10-17, 43-50 (young male role). - 雨晴はう (Amehare Hau) — style: ノーマル, speaker_id 10. Used for: listening items 26-33 (adolescent female role). - 青山龍星 (Aoyama Ryusei) — style: ノーマル, speaker_id 13. Used for: listening items 18-25 (mature-young male role). - All 6 characters are maintained by independent character projects; each carries its own term sheet linked from <https://voicevox.hiroshiba.jp/dormitory/> and aggregated at <https://voicevox.hiroshiba.jp/term/>.

• License (synthesized output): the 春日部つむぎ character permits

use of synthesized audio for both commercial and non-commercial works with attribution. This file + the runtime #/notices viewer satisfy the attribution requirement. Permitted-use boundary: no R-rated / political-misuse / defamatory contexts (every grammar example in this app is plain N5 study content — none of those exclusions apply).

• Files:

- audio/grammar/n5-NNN.M.mp3 (1782 files, one per grammar example across 178 patterns; speaker 8 = Tsumugi). - audio/listening/n5.listen.NNN.mp3 + .slow.mp3 (50 + 50 = 100 files; multi-speaker per item, see v1.14.1 release notes; + synthetic ambient context layer mixed under voice in v1.14.2, see next section). - audio/kanji/<glyph>-{on|kun}-<reading>.mp3 (259 files: 136 on + 123 kun; speaker 8 = Tsumugi). Voice metadata: per-corpus in data/audio_manifest.json and per-item in data/listening.json items[].audio_render_meta.

Synthetic ambient context layers (listening audio only)

> Added 2026-05-12 (v1.14.2): the 50 listening items now carry > a low-volume ambient atmospheric layer mixed UNDER the VOICEVOX > voice tracks. This is procedurally synthesized (ffmpeg lavfi > noise generators), NOT recorded sound effects from third-party > libraries.

• What it is: Per-item ambient context layer matching the

ambient_context tag on each listening item (cafe / station / restaurant / shop / home / office / clinic / classroom / general). Generated at build time using ffmpeg's anoisesrc filter (pink / brown noise sources, per-context amplitude + mix levels). Mixed under the voice audio at -24 to -36 dB so dialogue clarity is unaffected.

• Source: None — fully synthesized by ffmpeg v8.1.1 (LGPL/GPL).

No third-party CC-0 or commercial samples used.

• Quality honest: synthetic ambient does not match the realism

of recorded café / station / classroom samples. Per-context filter design is documented in tools/render_listening_ambient_context.py. Each item's metadata records the filter expression used.

• Future quality lift: replace synthetic layers with recorded

CC-0 samples from freesound.org / Pixabay when a sourcing path is established. The current synthetic implementation satisfies the audit's "no dead silence under mondai 1-2" intent while remaining 100% in-house (no external assets to attribute).

• Build pipeline: tools/build_audio_voicevox.py (sends each

example's ja text to the local VOICEVOX engine, transcodes the returned WAV to MP3 via ffmpeg).

• Backup of the prior gTTS renders:

audio/_backup_gtts_2026_05_12/grammar/ (1782 files preserved in case a future contributor wants to compare gTTS → VOICEVOX quality delta or revert).

The reading (54 files) MP3s under audio/reading/ remain rendered with gTTS (Google Translate TTS, single voice). gTTS attribution is implicit in its open-source library; no per-file crediting is required by its licence.

Public-domain literary references (Aozora Bunko + government + proverbs + folk songs)

> Added 2026-05-13 (v1.15.0): N5 grammar patterns now carry > references to legally-safe authentic Japanese sources via a new > public_domain_refs field. Rendered on the pattern detail page > below the contrasts section. > > Expanded 2026-05-13 (v1.15.1): Coverage extended from 36 to all > 178 patterns (184 total ref entries). Same five-tier source pool; > see CHANGELOG v1.15.1 for the per-author PD-status table.

Aozora Bunko (青空文庫) — PD literature

• Source: <https://www.aozora.gr.jp/>
• License: All works cited have authors who died ≥ 70 years

before 2026 (Japan copyright is life + 70 years per 著作権法). Each work is in the public domain in Japan and may be freely cited / quoted / reproduced.

• Works referenced (14 patterns):

- 夏目漱石 (Natsume Sōseki, 1867-1916): 坊っちゃん, 吾輩は猫である - 芥川龍之介 (Akutagawa Ryūnosuke, 1892-1927): 蜘蛛の糸, 杜子春 - 太宰治 (Dazai Osamu, 1909-1948): 走れメロス - 宮沢賢治 (Miyazawa Kenji, 1896-1933): 銀河鉄道の夜, 注文の多い料理店 - 小泉八雲 (Lafcadio Hearn, 1850-1904): 怪談

• PD verification: each ref entry includes author_death_year

and pd_status so future contributors can verify when the work became PD.

Government works (政府著作物)

• Source: Japanese Government — Constitution and legal codes.
• License: Public domain by Japanese 著作権法 §13 ('Works of the

State' exception). Government works are explicitly PD by statute and may be freely cited.

• Works referenced (3 patterns):

- 日本国憲法 (Constitution of Japan) — Preamble and Article 1.

Traditional proverbs (ことわざ) and folk songs (童謡)

• Source: Cultural commons — proverbs and folk songs that have

been part of Japanese cultural heritage for centuries.

• License: Not copyrightable (cultural commons / pre-Meiji

traditional works). Folk-song lyrics composed before 1900 are PD by default.

• Works referenced (15 patterns):

- Proverbs: 千里の道も一歩から, 壁に耳あり障子に目あり, 案ずるより産むが易し, 一日一善, 石の上にも三年, 覆水盆に返らず, 明日は明日の風が吹く, 猫に小判, 馬の耳に念仏, どうぞよろしくお願いします - Folk songs / Traditional tales: 茶摘み, 桃太郎, ふるさと, うさぎとかめ - Note: ふるさと (lyrics: 高野辰之 died 1947; melody: 岡野貞一 died 1941) — both PD as of 2026. 肩たたき's specific lyrics by 西條八十 (died 1970) remain copyrighted until 2041; only summary-level reference used.

NHK NEWS WEB EASY — Recommendation only (no quotation)

• Source: <https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/>
• License: NHK content is © NHK. No direct quotation is made.

References to NHK Easy are educational-resource pointers only — we recommend learners read the site daily but do not reproduce any NHK headlines or article text.

• Works referenced (4 patterns): NHK NEWS WEB EASY (general),

NHK NEWS WEB EASY 天気予報 (weather forecast). Both as recommended reading sources, not quotation sources.

Why this layer exists

The 2026-05-12 richness audit identified an "authentic-content layer" as the largest strategic richness lever for the grammar surface. The audit's original framing named copyrighted anime/drama/manga (しろくまカフェ / ちびまる子ちゃん / etc.) — those were Avoid'd per the 2026-05-12 maintainer directive (1% legal risk threshold; see CHANGELOG v1.14.2). This PD references layer fills the same niche from the legally-safe side: same pedagogical value (real Japanese literature + government + cultural sources), zero copyright exposure.

Kanjium pitch-accent dictionary

• What it is: Tokyo-standard pitch-accent drop positions for

~635 vocab entries, surfaced as pitch_accent: {mora, drop} + pitch_accent_provenance: "kanjium_lookup" in data/vocab.json. Earlier-pass entries with provenance llm_curated are preserved (~190 entries).

• Source: <https://github.com/mifunetoshiro/kanjium>, file

data/source_files/raw/accents.txt (~3 MB TSV, form/reading/drop).

• Upstream attribution: the kanjium project credits the

Electronic Dictionary Research and Development Group (EDRDG, led by James William Breen) — EDICT, KANJIDIC, KRADFILE — for the bulk of its data.

• License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0

International (CC BY-SA 4.0). Compatible with this project's CC BY-SA 4.0 content license.

• License text: <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/>
• Modifications: for entries with multiple drop options

(e.g. "0,2"), the first listed value is taken. Mora count is computed locally from each vocab entry's reading using Tokyo- standard rules (small ya/yu/yo + small a/i/u/e/o merge with preceding char; sokuon っ and long mark ー each count as 1 mora). No text from accents.txt is redistributed; only the numeric drop values are imported.

University of Leeds Japanese Internet Corpus (frequency_rank)

• What it is: word-frequency ranks for ~700 of the 1000 vocab

entries, surfaced as frequency_rank + frequency_rank_source: "leeds_corpus_internet_jp" in data/vocab.json.

• Source: <http://corpus.leeds.ac.uk/frqc/internet-jp.num>

(mirrored / cleaned via <https://github.com/hingston/japanese>, file 44492-japanese-words-latin-lines-removed.txt).

• License: Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 (CC BY 2.5).
• License text: <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/>
• Attribution: University of Leeds Centre for Translation

Studies (Serge Sharoff and contributors); cleanup by William Hingston.

• Modifications: the rank values are reused as-is. Only words

matching a vocab form or reading field were imported; no text from the corpus is redistributed.

• Why a proxy: the IMP-139 audit asked for BCCWJ ranks; this

internet-corpus rank is a freely-redistributable proxy. Each imported entry is tagged with frequency_rank_provenance: "auto_extracted" so a future BCCWJ swap can re-tag without data migration.

Inter (UI typeface — Latin glyphs)

• Used as: the primary Latin/Devanagari/CJK-fallback UI typeface

in this app. Loaded as fonts/inter-300.woff2, inter-400.woff2, inter-500.woff2 (subsetted to Latin Extended + Devanagari ranges).

• Source: <https://rsms.me/inter/> (also distributed via

<https://github.com/rsms/inter>).

• Author: Rasmus Andersson and contributors.
• License: SIL Open Font License 1.1 (SIL OFL 1.1).

Full license text: <https://github.com/rsms/inter/blob/master/LICENSE.txt>.

• Compliance: SIL OFL 1.1 permits embedding, modification, and

redistribution in software products provided (a) the font itself is not sold standalone, (b) modified versions do not reuse the reserved name "Inter," and (c) this attribution notice ships with the software. We satisfy (a) by bundling the font with a free, open-source app; (b) by not modifying or renaming the font files; and (c) by listing the attribution here. The subsetting performed for this app (Latin Extended + Devanagari) does not constitute a modification under OFL §1 since it only removes glyphs.

Noto Sans JP (Japanese typeface — kanji + kana glyphs)

• Used as: the Japanese-script typeface for kanji, hiragana, and

katakana rendering throughout the app. Loaded as fonts/noto-sans-jp-400.woff2 (subsetted to JIS X 0208 + JIS X 0212 ranges plus the N5 kanji whitelist used in mock papers).

• Source: <https://fonts.google.com/noto/specimen/Noto+Sans+JP>

(also distributed via <https://github.com/notofonts/noto-cjk>).

• Author: Google LLC / Adobe Inc. (joint development; part of

the Pan-CJK Noto family).

• License: SIL Open Font License 1.1 (SIL OFL 1.1).

Full license text: <https://github.com/notofonts/noto-cjk/blob/main/Sans/LICENSE>.

• Compliance: Same OFL 1.1 conditions as Inter (above). The

font file is bundled unmodified except for glyph subsetting (OFL §1 explicitly permits subsetting). The reserved name "Noto Sans JP" is preserved on the bundled file. No standalone redistribution.

Question content / corpus

The grammar patterns, vocabulary entries, kanji records, mock-test questions, reading passages, and listening drills in this repo are original content authored by the project. None of it is copied from JLPT past papers.

The full provenance policy + reference-source list is in CONTENT-LICENSE.md. An automated audit (tools/audit_provenance.py, also wired into the JA-30 invariant) scans every text field on every release and fails the build if any past-paper signature is found.

The JLPT trademark is owned by the Japan Foundation + JEES; this project is a learner-built study tool and is not affiliated with either organization.

Last updated: 2026-05-11 (legal-vetting F-13 — corrected listening-audio attribution from VOICEVOX to Microsoft Edge TTS Neural voices, the actual renderer; F-5 added Inter and Noto Sans JP font attributions per SIL OFL 1.1 compliance).