expression / noun:

• casting off the drudgery of everyday life and doing as one pleases; kicking back

noun:

• horizontally-wrapped fabric forming the bottom part of some traditional Japanese clothing

noun:

• war started or ended with the push of a single 'launch' button - obscure term - From English "button war"

noun:

• Xi'an Incident (involving the arrest and confinement of Chiang Kai-shek, December 1936)

noun:

• loss of a match that is 'called' part way into the game

noun:

• (in China) 8th note of the ancient chromatic scale (approx. A) ➜ 黄鐘【おうしき】・十二律
• sixth lunar month

noun:

• temple bell
• (in Japan) 7th note of the ancient chromatic scale (approx. G sharp) ➜ すい賓・十二律

noun:

• (in China) 4th note of the ancient chromatic scale (approx. F) ➜ 十二律・勝絶
• second lunar month

noun:

• Declaration of Humanity (wherein Hirohito renounced the imperial claim to divinity; Jan. 1, 1946)

noun:

• Dioscorea tokoro (species of wild yam)
• old man living in the countryside ［やろう］

noun:

• complete state ownership of land and citizens (proclaimed by the Taika reforms) (Ritsuryo period) ➜ 私地私民

expression / godan ~つ verb:

• the prospects look brighter; there is hope of accomplishing (something)

noun:

• University Entrance Qualification Examination (establishes the equivalent of high-school graduation prior to 2005) - abbreviation ➜ 大学入学資格検定

noun:

• University Entrance Qualification Examination (establishes the equivalent of high-school graduation prior to 2005) ➜ 高校卒業程度認定試験

~たる adjective / ~と adverb:

• bright (esp. of the moon)
• broad and empty ［こうこう］

noun:

• style of recitative dance popular during the Muromachi period (often with a military theme)

noun:

• Squamata (order of scaled reptiles, sometimes esp. the Sauria or Lacertilia) ➜ 有鱗類

noun:

• satyrid (any butterfly of subfamily Satyrinae, esp. the dryad, Minois dryas); grayling

noun:

• erection of a pillar by sinking it directly into the ground

noun:

• empathetically putting oneself in the place of a handicapped person - From English "cap handy"

noun:

• longnose butterfly fish (Forcipiger flavissimus, species of butterflyfish from the Indo-Pacific); forcepsfish

noun:

• whitecheek surgeonfish (Acanthurus nigricans, species of tang from the Eastern Indian and Pacific Oceans)

expression:

• the poetic feeling of a late spring scene (with flowers scattering and birds chirping) - obscure term - four character idiom

noun:

• Zanclidae; family of perciform fish whose sole member is the moorish idol

noun:

• part of the imperial palace where dancing girls were trained (Nara and Heian periods) - archaism