noun:

• totally useless (fruitless) effort; wasting time on an impossible task (like trying to scoop up a reflected moon from the bottom of the sea) - four character idiom

noun:

• Canopic jar; Canopic vase (used to store the internal organs of an Egyptian mummy)

noun:

• primitive shrine (originally a swath of sacred land surrounded by evergreens; later a decorated sakaki branch on an eight-legged table) - archaism

noun:

• Naso (genus of tropical marine surgeonfishes in the family Acanthuridae known as unicorn fishes due to a spike protruding from the forehead)

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:

• new single (by a recording artist)
• person of marriageable age who remains single (e.g. to focus on their career) - From English

noun:

• axe murder incident (Aug. 18, 1976); poplar tree incident; killing of two American army officers by North Korean soldiers in the DMZ

expression:

• what will happen to everyone else if I am not the one who goes? (expression of confidence from someone going out into the world)

noun:

• elegance; grace; refinement; class; dignity

suffix:

• article; item

suffix / counter:

• counter for items (of food, etc.); counter for dishes or courses (at a restaurant) - sometimes pronounced ぴん

~する noun:

• to master (a skill)

noun:

• proprietor; manager; owner; barkeeper
• leader; chief; head
• master (of arts, science, etc.)
• master (recording)
• master (device) ➜ スレーブ

noun:

• scaffold; scaffolding
• foothold; footing
• foothold (e.g. in business); foundation; base
• convenience for transportation; convenience of access (by road or rail) ➜ 交通の便【こうつうのべん】

noun:

• meeting place; seats for the public
• restaurant dinner tray; set of dishes served on an individual tray for entertaining guests; banquet - abbreviation ➜ 会席料理

noun / ~する noun:

• writing with the brush in one's mouth

noun:

• foreword; preface
• affidavit; written confession (of a commoner in the Edo period)

noun:

• famous sword; sword blade by Masamune
• sake; Japanese rice wine; brand of sake from Nada region during Tenpō era (1830-1844) - colloquialism

noun / adjectival noun / ~の noun:

• perversity; perverse person; contrary person; contrarian

noun:

• antagonistic demon in Japanese folklore
• demon under the feet of temple guardian statues

noun:

• putting on a brave face; put-on cheeriness; pretending one is fine; show of courage; bravado; Dutch courage

noun:

• the principle of not resuming debate on an item in the same Diet session in which it has been voted down

noun:

• immortal mountain wizard (in Taoism); Taoist immortal; supernatural being ➜ 仙人
• (in Japan) 11th note of the ancient chromatic scale (approx. C) ➜ 十二律・無射

noun:

• official post; regular post; permanent office
• principal post (as opposed to secondary post)

pronoun:

• I (of someone in government or the civil service)

noun:

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

adverb / ~と adverb:

• stiff and slackless; tense without any looseness - onomatopoeia ➜ きりっと
• cling tightly; pulled or stretched as far as possible
• creaking of a door or oar

noun:

• township-neighbourhood system (redefining the province-district-neighbourhood system, establishing 50-home townships of 2-3 neighbourhoods each; 715-740 CE) ➜ 国郡里制

noun:

• seal; stamp - archaism
• depressing the string of a zither with one's left hand
• (in archery) left hand ➜ 引き手【ひきで】
• obstinacy; stubbornness

noun:

• inconsistently, horribly drawn animated film or cartoon; animated cartoon episode of lower picture quality than other episodes in the same series - slang

noun:

• blue-spotted spinefoot (Siganus corallinus, species of Indo-West Pacific rabbitfish); coral rabbitfish; orange spinefoot