It was made in the following style: First, nouns were collected in Chinese, were grouped based on their meanings, an item name was given to each group of nouns, a Japanese pronunciation (called "wamyo," literally a Japanese name) of each of these nouns was given using Manyo-gana (a form of syllabary used in the Manyo-shu [Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves]), and to each noun, explanations were given by citing its Chinese document sources (dictionaries, Chinese dictionaries arranged by the final sound of each word, and encyclopedia).
名詞をまず漢語で類聚し、意味により分類して項目立て、万葉仮名で日本語に対応する名詞の読み（和名・倭名）をつけた上で、漢籍（字書・韻書・博物書）を出典として多数引用しながら説明を加える体裁をとる。