expression / noun / ~する noun:

• focusing on only the good points or strong points; incorporating the benefits (while ignoring the drawbacks); picking the best of both (everything); cherry-picking (e.g. information) ➜ いいとこ取り【いいとこどり】

expression / ichidan verb:

• to occupy the throne; to sit on the royal throne ➜ 座を占める
• to be at the top; to hold the premier position; to win a championship ➜ 座を占める

expression / noun:

• Day of the Rat (esp. the first Day of the Rat in the New Year)
• collecting herbs and pulling out young pine trees by the roots - abbreviation ➜ 子の日の遊び
• pine shoot pulled out in such a manner ➜ 子の日の松

noun:

• under-shoulder swing-down; technique of grasping the arm of the opponent, the moment he comes forward, while stepping out of line and pushing down on the shoulder blade with the other hand, thus pulling him down - Sumo term
• dodging; parrying (questions) ➜ 肩透かしを食わせる【かたすかしをくわせる】
• disappointment; letdown

noun / ~する noun / ~の noun:

• conveying the views of the subordinates to the rulers; rulers apprehending the views of those they govern - archaism

noun:

• soba eaten at the end of the month (esp. at the end of the year)

noun:

• the three grand national holidays (Prayer to the Four Quarters, Empire Day, the Emperor's Birthday; pre-1927) ➜ 紀元節・四方拝・天長節

noun / ~する noun:

• being enraged (indignant, impatient); gnashing the teeth and clenching the arms on the breast (in anger or regret) - four character idiom

expression:

• victory depends on the luck of the day (i.e. it isn't always the strongest who wins)

noun:

• wedgie (to a girl) i.e. pulling up the underwear from the back, driving it into the vulva - vulgar

noun:

• rope that ties the lower end of the sail to the hull (on a Japanese-style ship)

expression:

• empty vessels make the most noise; the silent firefly burns with more passion than the crying cicada [literal] - proverb

noun:

• the three worms (in Taoism, worms that inhabit the human gut and, on the eve of the 57th day of the sexagenary cycle, ascend to heaven during one's sleep to report on one's wrongdoings) ➜ 庚申待

noun:

• steward in charge of the affairs of nobles of the third rank and higher (from the middle of the Heian period)
• administrative position (Kamakura and Muromachi periods) ➜ 政所

expression:

• the best flowers are the cherry blossoms, the best individuals are the samurai; as the cherry blossom is first among flowers, so is the samurai first among men - proverb

noun / ~の noun:

• (one's) master
• Lord (Christian ref. to Jesus or God) ［しゅ］
• the main thing; the majority; the primary concern ［しゅ］ ➜ 主たる・主として

noun:

• Western style residences built mostly for early foreign settlers during the end of the Shogunate and the Meiji era

expression:

• spare the rod and spoil the child; if you love your children, send them out into the world [literal] - proverb

noun:

• Keien period (between the end of the Russo-Japanese War and the Taisho Political Crisis, approx. 1905-1912 CE)

noun:

• children's haircut having hair in the rear that reaches the nape of the neck - archaism

noun:

• season when the sky is clear and the air warm (spring)
• first ten days of the fourth lunar month ➜ 卯月

noun:

• territories in the vicinity of the capital and under direct imperial rule; (in Japanese history) the five kuni in the immediate vicinity of Kyoto

expression:

• enter through the narrow gate (for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction); enter ye in at the strait gate - from Matthew 7:13 - proverb

godan ~く verb:

• to be underwater from the neck down; to collect shells, seaweed, etc. by diving under the water - archaism
• to force something under the surface of the water

expression:

• the soft may prove more durable than the hard; willow trees don't break under the weight of snow [literal] - proverb