noun:

• event where schoolchildren wash their inkstones, brushes and desks the night before Tanabata to pray for success in their studies - obscure term ➜ 七夕

noun:

• kami celebrated at the beginning of New Year (usu. to pray for a good harvest) ➜ 神【かみ】
• goddess of (lucky) directions ➜ 歳徳神

noun:

• building where one keeps oxcarts and other conveyances inside a private estate
• resting area for one's oxcart, wagon, etc.

noun:

• decorative paper envelope for giving New Year's gifts (usu. money given to children) and congratulatory gifts ➜ お年玉【おとしだま】

noun:

• stopping place for horse-drawn carriages and rickshaws (Edo period); high way resting place
• wholesale rag dealer

noun:

• hiragana; cursive Japanese syllabary used primarily for native Japanese words (esp. function words, inflections, etc.) ➜ 片仮名

noun / ~する noun:

• service; ministry; attendance; church work
• offering goods at a reduced price; providing a service for free

noun:

• small private school (esp. for cramming)
• private school (in the Edo period, orig. run by Confucianists)

noun / ~する noun:

• girl hunt; trying to pick up a girl; looking for a girlfriend ➜ ボーイハント

noun:

• bunt performed for a base hit - Baseball term - From English "safety bunt" ➜ 犠牲バント

noun:

• tooth hardening toy (for infants); teether; teething ring
• tooth hardening meal; New Year's feast

noun:

• rice seasoned with vinegar, sugar and salt, used for preparing sushi; sushi rice - Food term

adverb:

• for a long time; since long ago; from childhood
• bright and early; early in the morning

noun:

• starting point for an ascent (mountain, stairs, etc.); base (of mountain, etc.) - esp. 上 for stairs, 登 for mountain

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

• tender sentiments; being overcome with emotions; having a tender feeling (for a person) - archaism - four character idiom

noun:

• working on a day off (to make up for lost time, or to make an impression)

expression / ichidan verb:

• to settle (a matter) for the time being; to complete the first stage (of something)

noun:

• former central university of Kyoto (established under the ritsuryo system for the training of government administrators) ➜ 律令制

noun:

• bringing one's child to the local park to play for the first time

noun:

• the privy purse; the money used for private purposes by the members of the Imperial family

noun:

• small okurigana used with kanbun
• small kana used for diphthongs (ya, yo, yu, i, etc.)

noun:

• "day of the ghost" (an extremely auspicious day on the lunar calendar for everything but weddings) ➜ 暦注

noun:

• tachibana tree west of the southern stairs of the Hall for State Ceremonies (in Heian Palace) ➜ 紫宸殿・左近の桜

noun:

• cherry tree east of the southern stairs of the Hall for State Ceremonies (in Heian Palace) ➜ 右近の橘・紫宸殿

noun:

• lay ancestral hall; hall on temple grounds for holding mortuary tablets of lay parishioners
• small shrine