noun:

• language used by the harlots of the Yoshiwara red light district during the Edo period ➜ ありんすことば

noun:

• sweeping the soot from one's house (to welcome the kami of the New Year) ➜ 神【かみ】・すす払い

expression / noun:

• red string of fate; in Chinese-Japanese folklore, fated lovers were said to be joined by an unseen red string, tied around one little finger of each

noun / suffix noun:

• taking; taker; collecting; collector; remover; removal

noun:

• last performer of the day (usu. the star performer); last performance of the day
• active partner (e.g. in judo demonstration)

prefix:

• emphatic or formal prefix - before a verb

noun:

• Japanese cherry birch (Betula grossa) ［あずさ・アズサ］ ➜ 夜糞峰榛
• yellow catalpa (Catalpa ovata) ［あずさ・アズサ］ ➜ キササゲ
• Japanese mallotus (Mallotus japonicus) ［あずさ・アズサ］ ➜ 赤芽柏
• printing block
• catalpa bow ［あずさ］ - abbreviation ➜ 梓弓
• catalpa medium ［あずさ］ - abbreviation ➜ 梓巫女

expression / noun:

• changing seasons; season's transition; transition from one season to the next; turn of the seasons; turning of the seasons ➜ 移り変わり【うつりかわり】

noun:

• pointed end; tip; point; cusp (of a leaf, crescent moon, etc.); apex (of a curve)
• forefront; vanguard; spearhead; leading edge

noun:

• one's business - archaism - polite language
• reading of scriptures before a (statue of) Buddha
• bargain; discount
• money paid to a prostitute or geisha

noun:

• large jewel; string of jewels - archaism
• Yasakani no Magatama (the grand jewel or string of jewels; one of the three Imperial regalia) ➜ 勾玉・三種の神器

expression:

• each ministry thinks only of its own good, but not of the good of the country; when there are ministries, there is no country [literal] - proverb

expression:

• those who wish to rule the land must first cultivate their own characters, then manage their families, then govern their states; only then can they bring peace to the land (a mantra of Confucianism) - proverb

noun / ~の noun:

• the past; bygone days; the previous
• a past (i.e. a personal history one would prefer remained secret); one's past
• past (tense); preterit; preterite - Linguistics term
• previous life - Buddhism term

noun:

• kokyu (3 or 4-stringed bowed Japanese musical instrument)
• any Oriental string instrument played with a bow

noun:

• nest (of boxes); nesting
• concealed information
• adopting a child after one's own has died; child adopted in this manner ［入れ子］
• cavity in an oar (fitted onto a peg as part of a traditional oarlock) ➜ 櫓杭

noun:

• arranging a group of people so as to form a character or spell out a message

noun:

• black rat (Rattus rattus); roof rat

noun:

• cement roof tile; cement tile

noun:

• gondola (boat) - From Italian
• gondola (of a hot-air balloon, airship, etc.); basket; cabin (of a cable car, ski lift, etc.); car (of an elevator)

noun / ~する noun:

• cutting a thin object (e.g. vegetable stalk) at a 45 degree angle; cutting in a way that blunts or rounds the cut ➜ 削ぐ

adjectival noun / ~の noun / ~たる adjective / ~と adverb / noun:

• remaining unchanged (from the old state of things); none the better for the change (if at all) - four character idiom

noun:

• rite welcoming back the gods from Izumo Shrine (on the last day of the tenth lunar month) ➜ 神送り

noun:

• the eight gods who preside over the lucky/unlucky directions of the koyomi for each year

noun:

• sunken kotatsu; low table over a hole in the floor (may have a heat source underneath and a hanging quilt to retain warmth) ➜ 炬燵

noun / ~する noun:

• growth; development; growing up; becoming an adult
• growth (of a company, the economy, etc.)

noun:

• tail (animal, kite, comet, etc.); tail end
• slope at the foot of a mountain