noun:

• free markets and open guilds (policy enacted by daimyo in the Azuchimomoyama Period (1573-1598) that weakened the strict regulations surrounding business establishment in market places and important cities, allowing new businesses to open in Joka-machi market places)

expression:

• one can say more with a look than with ten thousand words; the eyes cannot belie one's true thoughts; the eyes are the windows to the soul; eyes are as eloquent as the tongue - proverb ➜ 物を言う

noun:

• good actor who is inept in all other matters; demon for acting who is utterly indifferent to all other concerns; skilled actor who knows little of life; person who excels in one occupation (profession) but lacks simple common sense - four character idiom

noun:

• road; path; street; lane; passage
• route; way
• distance; journey
• road (e.g. to victory); course
• way (of living, proper conduct, etc.); moral principles
• teachings (esp. Confucian or Buddhist); dogma
• field (e.g. of medicine); subject; speciality
• means; way; method

noun / ~の noun:

• old person; elderly person; senior citizen

noun:

• trustee of the Japan Sumo Association; retired high-ranking wrestler who is licensed to coach and receives retirement pay - Sumo term
• senior statesman (of the Tokugawa shogunate)
• important local official (under the Tokugawa Shogunate)

noun:

• blow striking with the flat of the sword
• to slap ➜ 平手打ち
• metal flattened by striking
• tape; flat braid
• type of flat ornamental hairpin made of silver and inscribed with a clan's crest or patterns of birds and flowers ➜ 簪

expression:

• it's hard to discipline one's mind; defeating the bandits in the mountains is easy; defeating the bandit in one's heart is hard [literal] - proverb

noun:

• lintel of the alcove in a tea room or a window in a shoin-style reception room
• cloud-shaped carving on the bottom of a transom
• metallic bowl used to hold the charcoal in a wooden hibachi ➜ 火鉢

noun:

• prajna; wisdom required to attain enlightenment - Buddhism term - From Sanskrit "prajñā"
• noh mask of a grinning, horned demoness (represents a woman's rage and jealousy) ➜ 般若面【はんにゃめん】
• family crest designed after the Hannya noh mask
• dreadful face (esp. of a woman driven mad by jealousy); terrifying facial expression - abbreviation ➜ 般若面【はんにゃづら】

noun:

• bill; bill of sale; payment invoice
• tab (for later payment); credit
• contact move (in go); direct attack to an enemy stone - usually written using kana alone
• sound effect produced by striking with clappers a wooden board in kabuki - usually written using kana alone
• letter - archaism
• reason; motive; pretext - archaism
• one's fortune; one's luck - archaism

prefix noun:

• new members (e.g. club); new students; freshman

noun:

• event to welcome new students, club members, etc. (e.g. welcome party) - abbreviation ➜ 新歓コンパ

noun:

• flock from a vine-seed weed, used for face powder, and believed to promote desire and happiness
• animal from popular folklore with a white fluffy down made from dandelions and a rabbit's tail resembling a fluffy hairball

noun:

• any of a number of lists of three enlightened men, including (but not limited to): Buddha, Confucius and Christ
• Lao-tzu, Confucius and Buddha
• Fu Xi, King Wen and Confucius
• Yao, Shun and Yu
• Yu, the Duke of Zhou, Confucius

noun / ~する noun:

• being brought to a standstill; being stranded; getting stuck; stalling; deadlock
• being stumped; being in a dilemma; stopping in one's tracks; standing speechless
• dying while standing (and remaining standing); dying on one's feet

expression:

• the principle of fluidity and immutability in haiku; Haiku is both "fluid and transitory" and "eternal and immutable."; An interchange between the transient and the immutable is central to the soul of haiku. (Basho) - four character idiom

noun:

• earth; soil; dirt; clay; mud
• the earth (historically, esp. as opposed to the heavens); the ground; the land
• low-quality torinoko-gami (containing mud) ➜ 鳥の子紙
• (period of) refraining from construction in the direction of the god of the earth (in Onmyōdō) - also written as 犯土, 椎, 槌 ➜ 陰陽道

noun:

• clerical appearance; appearance of a priest - Buddhism term
• teachings of Buddha; condition of the universe at creation; in the pure land teachings, the name of Amitabha, or prayers to Amitabha; investiture of a Buddhist priest

noun:

• cart (esp. a food cart); stall; stand ➜ 屋台店
• festival float; portable shrine dedicated to a god and shaped like a house; dancing platform ➜ 踊り屋台
• stage prop fashioned after a large building
• framework (of a house, etc.) - abbreviation ➜ 屋台骨
• house (esp. a small and miserable house) - archaism

noun:

• lucky person; someone who made a lot of money (e.g. gambling or on the stock market)
• skilled batter; batter on a hot streak - Baseball term
• accident faker; someone who jumps in front of cars on purpose to extort money
• barbershop

noun:

• stretching out a string; stretching out like a string
• silk reeling; silk spinning; filature; silk reeler; silk spinner ➜ 糸取り
• pulling someone's strings
• appearance of strings from a Buddha's fingertips when being prayed to (folk belief)
• menstruation - euphemism

expression:

• Y adding up to Z; Y making up Z; Y constituting Z; Z consisting of Y; Z composed of Y; Z containing Y - for the pattern Y からなる Z

noun / ~する noun:

• making one's debut; making one's first appearance - esp. 顔見せ
• (just) showing one's face; showing up - esp. 顔見せ ➜ 顔を見せる
• introductory kabuki performance (to introduce the actors) - esp. 顔見世
• December kabuki performance at Kyoto's Minamiza Theater in which all famous actors perform - esp. 顔見世 ➜ 顔見世狂言

noun or verb acting prenominally:

• one-coin (i.e. able to be paid for with only one coin, esp. a 500-yen coin, sometimes a 100-yen coin); costing 500 yen; costing 100 yen

noun:

• volume number; reel number; scroll number
• number of volumes; number of reels; number of scrolls; number of turns (of a coil); number of windings (of a transformer, electromagnet, etc.)
• a set number of scrolls to be read by a Buddhist monk ［かんじゅ・かんず］

noun:

• last day of winter in the traditional Japanese calendar (usually February 3 or 4); holiday for end of winter (accompanied by a bean scattering ceremony)
• last day of any season (according to the traditional Japanese calendar) - original meaning