particle:

• only; nothing but - colloquialism ➜ しか

expression:

• Happy events are often accompanied by difficulties; Unsullied joy is rare - four character idiom

expression:

• dignified without being overbearing; being dignified, and moreover warm, as such one is gentle ➜ 威ありて猛からず【いありてたけからず】

expression:

• be; is - polite copula - polite language ➜ である

adverb / ~と adverb:

• violently; without holding anything back - from the sound of beating or striking - onomatopoeia
• firmly; resolutely - onomatopoeia

expression / noun:

• something that looks difficult but actually isn't; swimming in a cold lake during mid-winter seems difficult, but it's nothing to a kappa - idiom

expression:

• function over aesthetics; dumplings rather than flowers [literal] - idiom

expression:

• be; is - polite copula - archaism - polite language ➜ で御座います

noun:

• Cetorhinidae; family whose only member is the basking shark

noun:

• being attracted by physical looks only; person who is only interested in looks

noun:

• climb high; more expensive than expected

expression:

• one should not rush to make a profit; business is best run when sales flow like a cow's drool: long and thin - obscure term

noun / ~の noun:

• (similar to) perinatal; period from around the 28th week of pregnancy to a week after the baby is born

expression:

• at a loose end; having nothing to do

expression:

• Man's life vanishes like a dew; A person's life is as fleeting as a morning dew - four character idiom

expression:

• it's always darkest before the dawn; the darkest hour is just before the dawn

noun:

• proportion of forested land; proportion of land which is forested

noun:

• East Asian age reckoning; traditional system of age reckoning whereby newborns are considered one year old and on New Year's Day one year is added to everyone's age - abbreviation ➜ 数え年【かぞえどし】

expression:

• unawares; before one is aware - usu. as 冥々のうちに

noun:

• man who takes his wife's family name and marries into her family; man who is adopted by his wife's family

noun:

• cynicism (of mankind); belief that human nature is fundamentally evil Antonym: 性善説

expression:

• people may bring about their demise for love (like a deer coming forth when it hears a hunter's whistle in mating season); it is easy to have one's weak points taken advantage of - obscure term

adjective:

• it cannot be helped; there is no way ➜ どうしようもない
• intolerable; unbearable - archaism

expression / noun:

• god-like existence; person far higher (in hierarchy, etc.) than oneself

expression:

• the best flowers are the cherry blossoms, the best individuals are the samurai; as the cherry blossom is first among flowers, so is the samurai first among men - proverb