noun:

• a show; blood-stained mucus discharge that happens during pregnancy up to two weeks before delivery ➜ 破水
• signature mark (crest) used by members of the Imperial family to mark their belongings
• a sign (with honorific 'o') ➜ しるし

noun:

• recognition and guarantee, by the shogunate, of ownership of the inherited estate of a samurai who pledged allegiance to it (in the Kamakura and early Muromachi periods) - four character idiom

noun:

• K-T boundary (between the Cretaceous Period and the Tertiary Period)

noun:

• blue line
• area around a red-light district where illegal prostitution occurred (marked on police maps by a blue line) (1940s-1956) ➜ 青線地帯

noun:

• outline of the sun (esp. represented as a red circle)
• the Japanese flag - abbreviation ➜ 日の丸の旗

expression / ichidan verb:

• to signal the winner of a match (by the referee raising his fan towards the winner) - Sumo term
• to declare someone the winner (of a competition)

noun:

• area of the Edo castle where the shogun would work and spend his daily life

noun:

• miniature shrine with double doors (used to store important Buddhist items such as sutras, etc.)
• cabinet with double doors (used by the nobility to store books, etc.) ➜ 厨子棚
• (in Okinawa) carved and decorated stone container for storing the bones of one's ancestors ➜ 厨子甕

noun:

• building for observing horse racing, horseback archery, etc. (sometimes specifically that used by the emperor on the greater palace grounds) - archaism ➜ 武徳殿

noun:

• Gion Festival (in Kyoto during the month of July, with high point on the 17th) ➜ 祇園祭

noun:

• dispute over the distribution of water into paddies during the summer (in rural areas) ➜ 水争い

noun:

• shelf with offerings for welcoming the spirits of one's ancestors during the Bon Festival

noun:

• group comprising the lowest rank of Japan's Edo-period caste system (often ex-convicts or vagrants)
• non-human - Buddhism term

noun:

• red-light district; pleasure quarters ➜ 花柳界【かりゅうかい】
• love affair; romance

noun:

• famous bathhouse with prostitutes from the early Edo period

noun:

• the three weapons for catching criminals (Edo period) ➜ 刺股・突棒・袖搦

noun:

• the respective (relative) strength of political parties; distribution of the number of parliamentary seats held by each of the political parties - four character idiom

noun:

• uprising (during the Muromachi period) demanding debt cancellation orders - four character idiom

noun:

• ceremony on the fifth day of the 10th lunar month in which the emperor would watch prize archery (Heian and Kamakura periods)
• first firing of the bow (after the New Year or the reconstruction of the archery range (in military families))

noun:

• form of ancient Chinese entertainment similar to a circus (brought to Japan during the Nara period) ➜ 猿楽

noun:

• Osaka Conference; meeting held by the leaders of the Meiji Restoration in Osaka to discuss the formation of a representative assembly (January-February, 1875)

noun:

• the four great families of the age (esp. the Minamoto clan, the Taira clan, the Fujiwara clan and the Tachibana clan)
• varna (each of the four Hindu castes) ➜ ヴァルナ

noun:

• moon-viewing on either the night of the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunisolar calendar or on the night of the 13th day of the 9th month of the lunisolar calendar, but not both nights

noun:

• on the bank of; by the side of (e.g. a river, pond) - esp. ほとり
• (in the) neighbourhood; neighborhood; vicinity; nearby

suffix noun:

• around (Sunday, last year, etc...) ［あたり］
• for instance ［あたり］

noun:

• Gion Festival (in Kyoto during the month of July, with high point on the 17th)