noun:

• salary supplement, e.g. for work performed at inconvenient times or as overtime allowance usually for so-called exempt workers, i.e. workers who are expected to work a certain number of overtime hours ➜ 割増賃金

expression:

• he has not lived that lives not after death; the great use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it; tigers leave their hide when they die; men leave their name [literal] - proverb

noun / ~する noun:

• breaking ground; ground-breaking (ceremony)

noun:

• New Year's ceremony in which a hoe is used to break ground in a field lying in a lucky direction

noun:

• putting on a knowing air when one only knows the title of the book (play, etc.); pretending to understand the nature of something when one only knows its name - four character idiom

noun:

• card to pick up (in card games); card that is picked up by players instead of read (in karuta); card printed with the second half of a poem (in karuta) ➜ 読み札

noun:

• hardship now, pleasure later; seeking pleasure only after dealing with difficulties; seeking pleasure only after the happiness of the people is assured (a precept to be observed by a ruler) - four character idiom

adverbial noun / noun:

• limit; limits; bounds
• degree; extent; scope
• as far as possible; as much as possible; to the best of one's ability; very much
• unless (after neg. verb)
• the end; the last

suffix:

• as long as; only

conjunction:

• but; however; though; nevertheless; still; yet; even so; also; as well

particle:

• even
• however; no matter how; even if; even though
• ... or something
• either ... or ...; neither ... nor ... - as 〜でも〜でも

prefix:

• pseudo-; quack; in-name-only - before an occupation, etc.
• for lack of anything better to do - before an occupation, etc. ➜ でもしか

noun:

• Imperial New Year's Lectures (ceremony in which the emperor and members of the imperial family Their Majesties listen to expert lectures in the fields of human, social and natural sciences)

adjective:

• painful; difficult; tough; hard
• distressing; (psychologically) difficult; stressful; awkward (e.g. position)
• straitened (circumstances); tight (financial situation); needy; struggling
• strained (interpretation, explanation, etc.); lame (e.g. excuse); forced (e.g. smile); far-fetched

auxiliary adjective / adjective:

• hard to do; unpleasant - after -masu stem of verb; often ぐるしい ➜ 寝苦しい【ねぐるしい】・見苦しい【みぐるしい】

noun:

• make-or-break game in a go or shogi tournament
• ozeki-ranked wrestler being in danger of losing his rank if he fails to win 8 or more bouts in a 15-day tournament - Sumo term

noun:

• an offering of tea and hot water made to Buddha or the spirit of the deceased
• a tea infusion; tea and hot water
• tea ceremony ➜ 茶の湯

noun:

• Shinto ritual in which a shaman or priest soaks bamboo grass in boiling water and sprinkles the water on worshippers (originally a form of divination, later a purification ceremony, now primarily used to pray for good health) ➜ 巫女【みこ】

noun:

• palace room for government officials or ladies in waiting
• room inside a palace or private estate allocated to employees; person living in such a room
• boarding house for trainee administrators (Ritsuryo period) ➜ 大学寮

noun:

• thank you gift; gift given as thanks for a favor or for attending a funeral, etc.
• gift sent from a locality to a tax payer as part of the "furusato nozei" tax scheme ➜ ふるさと納税

noun:

• the two sects of Buddhism introduced to Japan during the Heian period (Tiantai and Shingon) and the six sects introduced during the Nara period ➜ 南都六宗

noun:

• staying awake on the eve of the 57th day of the sexagenary cycle (to prevent the three worms from reporting one's wrongdoings and shortening one's lifespan), while worshipping Sakra, the Blue-Faced Vajra, or Sarutahiko ➜ 三尸

noun:

• rite seeing off the gods on their way to Izumo Shrine (held on the last night of the ninth lunar month and first night of the tenth lunar month) ➜ 神迎え
• exorcism

noun:

• Suffering, Source of Suffering Desire, The Cessation of Suffering, The Way Leading to the Cessation of Suffering (The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism) - Buddhism term ➜ 四諦

expression / adjective:

• it can't be helped; it is inevitable; nothing can be done; there's no point (in doing something); there's no reason (to do something)

noun / ~する noun / ~の noun:

• reverse movement; retrogression; going backwards; moving in the wrong direction; running counter to (e.g. the laws of nature); running against (e.g. the tide of the times) Antonym: 順行
• retrogradation; retrogression - Astronomy term

noun:

• heavenly god; heavenly gods - also pronounced てんしん
• spirit of Sugawara no Michizane
• Tenmangu shrine (dedicated to Michizane's spirit) ➜ 天満宮
• pit of a dried plum; dried plum - colloquialism ➜ 梅干し
• tenjin hairstyle - abbreviation ➜ 天神髷
• prostitute of the second-highest class (Edo period)

noun / ~する noun / ~の noun:

• cooking for oneself; cooking one's own food; doing one's own cooking; making food oneself; self-catering
• scanning a book or magazine to create an ebook by oneself

noun:

• enshrinement of two or more deities in one building of a shrine; shrine building dedicated to two or more deities

noun:

• striking sparks with flint and steel or by rubbing sticks together (usu. to start a fire); fire lit by sparks from flint and steel, etc. ➜ 鑽る
• Shinto fire-purification ceremony - Shintō term