sorry for making a new post for such a simple question, but, please can someone explain what the white and black up and down arrows are in japanese dictionaries? or, point me somewhere that explains them... can't seem to find it... tyty

I too always wondered this, but never knew how to search for the answer. Also, therre is often an X by a kanji in a dictionary. I think this means it is an unused (or rarely used) kanji in the word, but I could be wrong.

I don't know. Pitch? Maybe...

What Dictionary do you use? And do you have an example? I browsed some random words in my electronic dictionary and can't seem to notice any arrows.. there's x-signs, triangles,...

http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/help/jn/03.html
(2) 常用漢字とその音訓を表示した。
【 】の中の漢字が「常用漢字表」にないものには「▼」、その漢字が「常用漢字表」にはあるが見出しに相当する音訓が示されていないものには「▽」を漢字の右肩に付した。また、「常用漢字表」の「付表」の語は《 》で囲んで示した。
ただし、固有名詞には「▼」「▽」を付さなかった。

Is this what you're talking about? Black means the following kanji isn't on jouyou list and white means the word can be written with this kanji but its unusual

I've never noticed up arrows though...