noun / ~の noun:

• establishing a large lead over one's competitors; breaking away (from the field)

noun:

• Clusiaceae; Guttiferae; family of plants including St. John's worts and mangosteens

noun / ~する noun:

• beginning one's studies with something familiar and gradually increasing the depth of learning - four character idiom

noun:

• corner; nook; recess
• shadow; shade
• dark circles (e.g. around one's eyes)

noun:

• women's volunteer corps; groups of young female workers organized on Japanese territory during WWII

noun:

• Shudra; Sudra (member of India's worker caste)

noun:

• transfer ceremony (wherein a shrine's sacred object is moved from one building to another) ➜ 式年遷宮祭

noun:

• chocolate given to a boy on Valentine's day out of genuine sentiment

noun:

• King's goanna (Varanus kingorum, species of small carnivorous monitor lizard native to the Australia)

noun:

• outset; beginning; starting (things) ➜ 手始め
• resuming work after the New Year's vacation ➜ 仕事始め

noun:

• room in Edo castle where the shogun's council of elders attended to governmental affairs

noun:

• koto erected in one's yard as decoration during the Festival to Plead for Skills - archaism ➜ 乞巧奠

noun:

• diagnostic sphygmopalpation (in traditional Chinese medicine); medical diagnosis performed by feeling one's pulse

noun:

• platform in front of a temple's principal image, from which the officiating monk chants - Buddhism term

noun:

• fine monk's robes worn by members of the imperial household, nobility, councilors (councillors), etc.

noun:

• turning a concealed pung into an open kong by calling another player's discard - Mahjong term - From Chinese ➜ 槓

expression / noun:

• situation in which one can move neither forward nor backward; Benkei's last stand [literal] - idiom

noun:

• Let's Play; recorded playthrough of a video game (usu. with player commentary)

noun:

• growing older
• aging ceremony (on New Year's Eve or the last night of winter)

expression / godan ~す verb:

• what a hoot!; joke of the century!; one's navel boils water [literal] - idiom ➜ へそで茶を沸かす【へそでちゃをわかす】

noun:

• year
• age; years
• past one's prime; old age

noun:

• mistake; error; discrepancy
• discrepancy between one's actions and intentions - Law term

noun:

• ship's captain; skipper
• length of a ship ［せんちょう］
• boatman ［ふなおさ］

noun / ~する noun:

• washing; cleansing; cleaning; laundering
• cleansing (one's mind and body) - Buddhism term

noun:

• glance; look; glimpse
• complete view; bird's-eye view