noun:

• log on the roof of a shrine set perpendicular to the ridgepole

noun:

• battledore and shuttlecock game (played at the beginning of the year)

noun:

• incorporating the needs of the market into a product - From English "market in"

noun:

• overall height; distance from the ground to the highest point of an object

noun:

• ceremonial offering by the Emperor of newly-harvested rice to the deities

noun:

• wrestlers with the same win-loss record at the end of a tournament - Sumo term

noun:

• doh; do; 1st note in the tonic solfa representation of the diatonic scale

noun:

• fa; fah; 4th note in the tonic solfa representation of the diatonic scale

noun:

• soh; so; 5th note in the tonic solfa representation of the diatonic scale

noun:

• having an eye to the big picture; being aware of the general situation - four character idiom

noun:

• sudden reversal in the tide of events; the situation taking a new turn - four character idiom

expression:

• refraining from offering the (New Year's) greetings during the period of mourning - four character idiom

noun:

• Southern Cross (asterism formed with the brightest four stars of the constellation Crux) - Astronomy term ➜ 南十字星

noun:

• standard days signifying the changing of the seasons (i.e. setsubun, higan, etc.)

noun:

• neo-Confucianism (based on the teaching of the Cheng brothers and Zhu Xi) - obscure term ➜ 宋学

noun:

• aureole (of a Buddhist statue; surrounding the body but not the head); aureola

noun:

• the three tones of Chinese that exclude the high-level, or first, tone

expression:

• one thing after another; out of the frying pan and into the fire - idiom

noun:

• nut (on the head of a shamisen, supporting the second and third strings) - obscure term ➜ 上駒

noun:

• style of drawing the human face, popular in the Heian period

noun:

• cutting off the leg at the knee (form of punishment in ancient China) - archaism ➜ 五刑

noun:

• cutting off the leg at the knee (form of punishment in ancient China) - archaism - obscure term ➜ 剕

noun:

• ceremony honouring the spirits of ancestors (esp. the Bon festival) ➜ 霊祭【れいさい】・盂蘭盆

noun:

• juvenile delinquent under the age of fourteen; minor in trouble with the law

noun:

• eisa (Okinawan folk dance that marks the end of the Bon festival)