noun:

• method of patterning traditional Japanese clothing (the tops of all of patterns being pointed at the highest part of the shoulder)

noun:

• expression of love; showing love

noun / ~する noun / ~の noun:

• existing of or by itself; self-existence

noun:

• bus without a step up into it, usually because it lowers itself or has a lift; low-floor bus - From English "non-step bus"

noun:

• rope used to cordon off consecrated areas or as a talisman against evil - Shintō term

noun:

• life of meditation; contemplative life - four character idiom

noun:

• manner of Heian era palatial architecture

expression / noun:

• Tower of Hanoi (puzzle)

noun:

• bathing guest at a hot spring

expression / ~する verb (irregular):

• to betray a secret

expression:

• if a cat washes its face, rain is coming - traditional belief - proverb

noun:

• circle of acquaintance

noun / ~する noun:

• forgetting the hardships of the old year
• year-end drinking party ➜ 忘年会

noun:

• referral to a committee

noun:

• small wooden door at the rear of a noh stage
• small garden gate ➜ 小門

expression / godan ~る verb:

• to disguise oneself as a woman

noun:

• Okinawan dish of pig ears

noun:

• line of spears held at the ready

adverb:

• a little more

expression:

• in spring one sleeps a sleep that knows no dawn; in spring one sleeps like a log - proverb

noun / ~する noun:

• returning to the service of one's master

noun:

• Ministry of Central Affairs (under the ritsuryo system) ➜ 律令制

noun:

• buildings on the east and west side of the southern pond (in traditional palatial-style architecture) ➜ 寝殿造り

noun / ~の noun:

• bones of the palm (esp. the metacarpals, but sometimes also including the carpals) - obscure term ➜ 中手骨

noun:

• a political organization; a political organisation