expression:

• a wise retainer chooses a great lord to serve; a wise bird chooses a good tree in which to roost [literal] - proverb

godan ~る verb / transitive:

• to operate (e.g. a machine); to handle; to manage; to control; to maneuver; to steer
• to have a good command of (a language); to play proficiently (of a musical instrument)
• to work (a puppet); to pull the strings of a puppet
• to manipulate (a person, public opinion, etc.); to pull the strings; to control from the shadows; to mastermind

expression:

• The world is a scene of constant changes (as a mulberry field changing into a blue sea). - Chinese legend - four character idiom

expression:

• The world is a scene of constant changes (as a mulberry field changing into a blue sea). - Chinese legend - four character idiom

noun:

• cheap wines and unpalatable dishes (a modest (self-deprecating) way of offering a meal to a guest) - four character idiom

noun:

• staff (esp. one used by a monk, e.g. as a walking stick during a pilgrimage)

noun:

• simultaneously running for a seat in a single-member constituency and a seat in a proportionally representated constituency

expression / noun:

• a man among the geese when the gander is away; a one-eyed king in the land of the blind; a bat in a village without birds [literal] - idiom

noun / ~する noun:

• entering a temple; visiting a temple
• joining a temple as a priest or head priest - obscure term

noun:

• lintel of the alcove in a tea room or a window in a shoin-style reception room
• cloud-shaped carving on the bottom of a transom
• metallic bowl used to hold the charcoal in a wooden hibachi ➜ 火鉢

expression:

• better to be the beak of a rooster than the rump of a bull; better to be the leader of a small group than a subordinate in a large organization; better to be a big fish in a little pond than a little fish in a big pond - four character idiom

expression / godan ~う verb:

• to make up a shortfall; to cover a shortage; to compensate for a shortage; to fill a gap

interjection:

• heigh-hoh; heave-ho
• hold on!; just a minute
• used as a meaningless word in a song for rhythm

expression:

• half a loaf is better than none; even a dead tree adds to the interest of a mountain [literal] - proverb

noun:

• pent roof built atop the stairs of a shrine or a building in a classic aristocratic villa ➜ 寝殿造り・向拝

noun:

• votive tablet depicting a math puzzle given in devotion to a shrine or temple by a wasan mathematician ➜ 和算【わさん】

expression:

• take a long walk off a short pier; go stick your head in a pig; bash your head against the corner of a block of tofu and die [literal]

expression / godan ~つ verb:

• to play a trick; to put up a false show; to deceive someone
• to put on a play; to present a play; to give a play - original meaning

noun:

• a verse (e.g. in the Bible); stanza; paragraph; passage; a joint; section; a tune; note; strain; measure

expression:

• a friend is a good thing to have; a good friend is a great blessing

expression:

• a friend is a good thing to have; a good friend is a great blessing ➜ 持つべきものは友

noun:

• a snipe and a clam; a snipe and a mussel ➜ 鷸蚌の争い

noun:

• salt pan (used for boiling seawater to make salt)
• cooking a fish inside a salt crust - abbreviation ➜ 塩釜焼き
• candy made with a wrapping of sweetened rice flour (looking like a salt crust)

noun:

• street performance by itinerant entertainers featuring a tumbling act in which a child performer wears a carved lion's head

noun:

• incarcerating a criminal in a temple as a form of punishment (popular during the latter Muromachi and Azuchi-Momoyama periods) - obscure term ➜ 寺入り