noun:

• four beasts (tiger, leopard, black bear, and brown bear)
• four gods said to rule over the four directions ➜ 四神

noun:

• former residence status in Japan for foreign students in Japanese language schools and vocational schools (abolished in 2010)

noun:

• empowering women; promoting women's contribution; removing obstacles to women's full participation in society and the workplace

noun:

• stable period (with ref. to pregnancy, typically from 4th month when the placenta is fully formed, morning sickness usually goes away and risk of miscarriage decreases)

noun:

• Heian-period pastry made of duck or goose eggs mixed with vegetables boiled and wrapped in mochi which is then cut into squares

noun:

• mythical shark-like demon sea monster with barbed tail fin, said to live off the coast of Matsuura and other places in Western Japan; Beach Stroker

godan ~る verb / intransitive verb:

• to ascend; to go up; to climb
• to ascend (as a natural process, e.g. the sun); to rise - usu. 昇る
• to go to (the capital)
• to be promoted
• to add up to
• to advance (in price)
• to swim up (a river); to sail up
• to come up (on the agenda)

noun / adverbial noun:

• every day and every night; day after day; daily

expression / ichidan verb:

• to be brief and to the point; to be succinct

godan ~る verb / intransitive verb:

• to chat enthusiastically; to chatter; to talk on and on

noun:

• water god; rain and snow god; dragon god; dragon king - obscure term

adjective:

• black
• dark; blackish; sun-tanned (skin)
• suspicious; criminal; illicit
• darkened and dirty; sooty; covered in dirt
• evil; wicked; black-hearted
• inauspicious; ill-boding; unlucky

noun:

• year in which an imperial memorial ceremony is held (the 3rd, 5th, 10th 20th, 50th & 100th years after death and every 100 years thereafter) ➜ 式年祭

noun:

• armor, helmet & shield (armour) - obscure term
• kakurei, kakuun & kakumei (first, fifth and fifty-eighth years of the sexagenary cycle; times of civil unrest according to Onmyōdō) ➜ 陰陽道

noun:

• time - Buddhism term - From Sanskrit "samaya"
• meeting; coming together - Buddhism term
• equality, warning, or riddance of hindrances (esp. in esoteric Buddhism as vows of the buddhas and bodhisattvas) - Buddhism term

noun:

• Operation Tomodachi; United States Armed Forces assistance operation to support Japan in disaster relief following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami

noun:

• oyakodon-like dish made with something other than chicken; bowl of rice with cooked meat (esp. beef or pork) and eggs on top - Food term ➜ 親子丼

noun:

• event where young men and women paint each others' cheeks with black ink or soot during Little New Year in the San'in region ➜ 小正月

noun:

• Kansai; region consisting of Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto and surrounding prefectures
• Kansai; south-western half of Japan (during the feudal era)

noun:

• bamboo shoots boiled, sliced, fermented, dried or preserved in salt, then soaked in hot water and sea salt - From Chinese "mianma" ➜ 支那竹

noun:

• bamboo shoots boiled, sliced, fermented, dried or preserved in salt, then soaked in hot water and sea salt - sensitive ➜ 麺媽

noun:

• nailist; someone whose occupation is to cut any type of nail, apply artificial nails (or "nail art") and care for nails

noun:

• any monkey of family Cebidae (esp. the capuchin monkeys of genus Cebus, but also including marmosets, tamarins and squirrel monkeys)

noun:

• milk shark (Rhizoprionodon acutus, species of requiem shark found in the eastern Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific) ➜ 平頭

noun:

• rice gruel with diced sweet potatoes
• gruel with ivy broth and finely minced Japanese yam served at large Imperial banquets