expression:

• curiously; curiously enough; oddly enough; to the point of being mysterious; to the extent of being strange

expression:

• you have only to; all you have to (do); all that's required; as long as; if only

expression:

• the beauties of nature as the key poetic theme; the central theme in composing poetry (haiku) must be the beauties of nature and the harmony that exist between nature and man. (The slogan of the Hototogisu School of modern Japanese haiku) - four character idiom ➜ 花鳥風月

noun:

• young men who are not competitive as in the traditional male stereotype, including in the avid pursuit of money and sex, and who may also be kind, co-operative and family-oriented - abbreviation ➜ 草食系男子
• men who pretend they aren't interested in women; spineless males; men with no balls - abbreviation - slang

expression:

• trying to straighten the horns of a bull, and killing it in the process; trying to correct a small defect and ruining the whole thing; The cure is worse than the disease - four character idiom

noun:

• main text (as opposed to any included commentary or annotations)
• authentic text (e.g. of a treaty, as opposed to any translation not specified as authentic) - Law term
• Chinese classical literature

expression:

• starting something in the eleventh hour; have not thy cloak to make when it begins to rain; don't lock the stable door after the horse has been stolen; braiding the rope only after the thief is caught - proverb ➜ 泥縄【どろなわ】・泥縄式【どろなわしき】

noun:

• wide-mouthed ceramic vessel having a small hole in its spherical base (into which bamboo was probably inserted to pour liquids)
• teapot-like object made typically of lacquerware and used to pour hot and cold liquids ➜ 半挿【はんぞう】

expression:

• waiting for one hundred years for the waters of the Yellow River to clear; waiting in vain for an unlikely event; waiting for pigs to fly; When the sky falls, we shall catch larks - four character idiom

noun:

• made-to-order production; job order production; production to order

ichidan verb / transitive:

• to serve out one's apprenticeship; to serve out one's time

noun:

• give water to a dying person; water given to a dying person

noun:

• favorite snack to have with drinks; favourite snack to have with drinks

expression / godan ~す verb:

• to put out one's tongue; to stick out one's tongue

expression / godan ~つ verb:

• to wait for a favorable chance; to wait for a favourable chance

expression / godan ~う verb:

• to have one's wish realized; to have one's wish realised

expression / godan ~す verb:

• to shake each other's hands; to shake hands with each other

expression / ~する verb (irregular):

• to pucker up one's lips; to purse up one's lips

expression / ichidan verb:

• to put someone off his guard; to throw someone off his guard

expression / godan ~る verb:

• to start (e.g. a scene, a war, etc.)
• to end (e.g. a play, an episode, an event, etc.)

expression:

• those who wish to rule the land must first cultivate their own characters, then manage their families, then govern their states; only then can they bring peace to the land (a mantra of Confucianism) - proverb

expression:

• avarice brings doom upon oneself; if a hawk-eagle tries to catch two boars at once, the boars will try to run in opposite directions, splitting the hawk-eagle into two and killing it - proverb

noun:

• number of people
• denominate number
• the number at the start of phrases referring to well known 'somethings', equiv. to 'seven' in "the seven wonders of the world" ➜ 三筆・四天王

noun:

• person in the online community who seeks to identify others from the information they post online, or who tries to identify places and objects that appear in comics or games - derogatory term - slang

noun / ~する noun:

• being at a complete loss as to what to do; being at one's wit's end; being at a loss for an answer - four character idiom