noun:

• Southern Cross (asterism formed with the brightest four stars of the constellation Crux) - Astronomy term ➜ 南十字星【みなみじゅうじせい】

noun:

• foreign ship (esp. of Spanish and Portuguese ships arriving from the south prior to the Edo period)

noun:

• flower-patterned material used to bind the ends of the spine in books - From English "head band" ➜ 花布

noun:

• summer purification rites (held at shrines on the last day of the 6th lunar month) ➜ 茅の輪

noun:

• buildings on the east and west side of the southern pond (in traditional palatial-style architecture) ➜ 寝殿造り

noun:

• western citadel; west wing of the Edo castle (where the heir apparent or retired shogun would live) ➜ 江戸城

expression:

• third climate of spring (when the ice breaks and fish start appearing near the surface) ➜ 七十二候

noun:

• calligraphy technique of holding the brush perpendicularly, lower arm raised, and elbow held away from the body ➜ 直筆【ちょくひつ】・懸腕

noun:

• second half of the year; second half of the fiscal year ➜ 上半期

noun:

• first eastern wind of the year; first eastern wind of the spring

godan ~る verb / intransitive verb / transitive:

• to give one's name (as); to introduce oneself (as)
• to claim to be; to call oneself; to wear the title of
• to reveal oneself (as); to admit to being

godan ~る verb / transitive:

• to adopt as one's name; to take (a name)

godan ~る verb / intransitive verb:

• to call out the goods one is selling - archaism

noun:

• written work (esp. a bound text, as opposed to a scroll)
• a text written entirely in kana
• graphic novel (esp. one created between the 12th and 19th centuries)
• notebook (for practicing kana, drawing pictures, etc.)
• rough draft

noun / ~の noun:

• basement; cellar; underground place

prefix:

• underground; below ground
• secret; under cover

noun:

• underground (railway); subway; metro - colloquialism - abbreviation

godan ~う verb / intransitive verb:

• to drift; to float
• to waft (e.g. a scent); to hang in the air
• to be in the air (e.g. a feeling or mood)
• to wander; to walk around aimlessly
• to be unsteady; to be unstable - archaism
• to falter; to flinch; to wince - archaism
• to live in unreliable circumstances - archaism

noun:

• first runner (in a relay race)
• top-class runner
• vanguard (of a person); front line; cutting edge - idiom
• top runner (system of benchmarking against best-in-class performance)

noun / ~する noun:

• cheating on train fare by buying tickets covering only the first and last portions of the journey (so-called because traditional pipes had metal only in two short segments at the ends) ➜ 煙管乗り

noun / ~する noun:

• cleaning up or covering for another; bearing the consequences of someone else's error; paying a debt for someone; wiping another's buttocks [literal]

ichidan verb / transitive:

• to misplace; to put in the wrong place
• to make a mistake in deciding the winner - Sumo term

noun:

• going round in circles; game of cat and mouse; pointless and repetitive back-and-forth - idiom
• itachigokko; Japanese children's game - original meaning

adjectival noun / noun / ~する noun:

• bitter experience; learning from a bad experience; having had enough (of something unpleasant); having had a bellyful; being sick and tired (of something); being fed up

noun / ~の noun:

• person with a lot of experience; old hand; veteran (in a particular field)

noun / ~する noun:

• caring for (esp. a pet or a small object); cherishing; being fond of; prizing; treasuring

noun:

• ladies' bicycle (of a kind often used by housewives, usu. with a basket in front); granny bike ➜ チャリ

noun:

• skewering one's food with a chopstick in order to pick it up (a breach of etiquette)

noun:

• touching a food with one's chopsticks, then removing them without taking it (a breach of etiquette)