noun:

• small knife that is largely ornamental or used to cut open letters and the like ➜ 小刀

noun / ~する noun:

• obtaining items such as books, CDs and DVDs before the date they officially go on sale - abbreviation - From English "flying get" ➜ フライングゲット

noun:

• homophone; word with the same pronunciation and similar meaning as another but a different written form

noun:

• Oversight Department (division of the daijokan responsible for controlling central and provincial governmental offices) ➜ 太政官

noun:

• first half of a tea ceremony (in which the charcoal is set and light food served) ➜ 後座【ござ】

noun:

• petty official responsible for collecting public gossip and presenting it to the king (in ancient China) ➜ 稗史

noun:

• orthographical variants; words with the same pronunciation and meaning, but different written forms; spelling inconsistency

noun:

• yoko-shiho-gatame (judo hold in which the opponent's shoulders and hips are pinned) - Martial Arts term

noun:

• Osaka Incident; plot by Oi Kentaro and the Liberal Party to support a Korean uprising, 1885

noun:

• ABCD encirclement; embargoes against Japan by America, Britain, China, and the Dutch starting in 1940

noun:

• magistrate in charge of finding out and converting hidden Christians (during the Edo period)

noun:

• former Christian missionary who apostatized and converted to Buddhism (during the Edo period) ➜ バテレン

noun:

• (one of) the eight earliest and most prestigious high schools (Meiji period) - From English "number school"

noun / ~する noun / ~の noun:

• halving; dividing (into two parts); bisection
• the two equinoxes (vernal and autumnal)

noun:

• virtuous deed; act of merit - Buddhism term
• grace (of the buddhas and gods); blessing - Buddhism term

noun:

• posture in which the legs are firmly planted (in sumo and judo) - Sumo, Martial Arts term

expression / ichidan verb:

• to be troublesome; to require the aid and labour of others

noun:

• particle that attaches to a phrase and acts on the whole phrase - e.g. the の of のです ➜ のです

noun / adjectival noun:

• to the satisfaction of all parties; all sides being happy and satisfied - four character idiom

noun:

• Sunna (collection of recorded words and actions of the prophet Muhammad); Sunnah - From Arabic "sunna"

noun:

• boa catshark (Scyliorhinus boa, species from the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico)

noun:

• clouds appearing before the wind starts to blow
• winds and clouds - esp. かぜくも ➜ 風雲【ふううん】

noun:

• one-yen taxi (in the Taisho and Showa periods); taxi - abbr. of 一円タクシー

expression:

• the world is at peace; bows in bags and swords in sheaths [literal] - proverb

expression / noun:

• people who partied flamboyantly in Harajuku, etc. in the 70s and 80s