noun:

• grasping the trend; firmly understanding how the situation is developing; getting a good sense of how things are changing - four character idiom

expression:

• "the shoemaker's children go barefoot" [figurative]; the dyer wears white [literal]; specialists often fail to apply their skills to themselves

expression / godan ~う verb:

• to hold a memorial service for the dead, praying for their happiness in the next life by chanting sutras - Buddhism term

noun:

• carrying over a bill from one Diet session to the next, being deliberated by a committee in the interim

expression:

• any event can bring about an effect in an unexpected way; if the wind blows the bucket makers prosper [literal] - proverb

noun:

• terracotta army (clay figurines found near the mausoleum of the first Qin emperor in China); terracotta warriors and horses ➜ 兵馬

noun:

• selecting an auspicious date by looking at the astrological information on the calendar; date selected in such a manner

noun:

• secretary (lowest of the four administrative ranks of the ritsuryo system) - archaism ➜ 四等官
• shrine official (ranking below a negi) ［しゅてん］ - obsolete term ➜ 禰宜

noun:

• blackeye rabbitfish (Siganus puelloides, species of rabbitfish found in the Maldives and the Similan Islands)

noun:

• Triaenodon (genus of requiem shark in the family Carcharhinidae whose sole member is the whitetip reef shark)

noun:

• Gray's monitor (Varanus olivaceus, species of carnivorous monitor lizard from Luzon and the Catanduanes Islands in the Philippines)

noun:

• free markets and open guilds - abbreviation ➜ 楽市楽座
• way of sitting on the ground with the sole of both feet pressed together

noun:

• low-class prostitute who was kept in a sort of cage at the front of the establishment (Edo period)

noun:

• one of the six administrators of a Zen temple who substitutes for the chief priest - Buddhism term ➜ 六知事

noun:

• prize archery
• imperial archery event held annually on the 18th day of the first lunar month (Heian period)

noun:

• thin washer on either side of the guard (tsuba) of a sword
• (up to) the hilt; wits' end ➜ 切羽詰まる

noun:

• 1955 System; Japanese political alignment with the LDP in government and the JSP in opposition, which lasted until 1993 ➜ 自由民主党【じゆうみんしゅとう】・日本社会党【にっぽんしゃかいとう】

noun:

• artificially flooded salt farm above the high-tide mark ➜ 入り浜
• captured pieces (in the game of go); captured stones ➜ 上げ石

expression / adverb:

• indiscriminately; without consideration; irrespective of the occasion; paying no attention to the feelings or expectations of those nearby

noun:

• One Village One Product movement; OVOP; campaign to boost the countryside by promoting the special products of local areas

expression:

• function follows form; the outside shapes the inside; belief comes from solemnity (i.e. from seeing an ornate temple) [literal] - proverb

adverb:

• just as; in the act of; as soon as; at the moment that - after past tense of verb

noun:

• Music Department (part of the Board of Ceremonies of the Imperial Household Agency)

expression / godan ~う verb:

• to capture all the popularity; to steal the show; to upstage

noun:

• awareness of the minds of others (one of the six supernormal Buddhist powers) - Buddhism term ➜ 六神通