noun:

• ritual performance (usually around New Year) to pray for a successful rice harvest in the coming year - Shintō term

noun / ~する noun:

• brood parasitism (planting one's eggs in another bird's nest, as demonstrated by the cuckoo, etc.)

expression:

• financially ruining oneself by overindulging in food and drink (as a fabled tendency of the people of Osaka) ➜ 京の着倒れ・食い倒れ

noun:

• toy from Fukushima prefecture in the shape of a red cow, also used as a talisman against smallpox

noun:

• pearl-spot chromis (Chromis notata, species of damselfish found in southern Japan, Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan, and China)

noun:

• Lamna (genus of mackerel sharks or white sharks with two living species in the family Lamnidae)

noun:

• Cephaloscyllium (genus of catshark known as swellsharks in the family Scyliorhinidae capable of inflating their body)

noun:

• Pseudotriakis (genus of ground shark in the family Pseudotriakidae whose sole member is the false catshark)

noun:

• Mustelus (genus of smooth-hound sharks in the family Triakidae); from the Latin mustela meaning weasel

noun:

• smooth-hound (Mustelus mustelus, houndshark found in the Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean)

noun:

• Luvarus (sole genus of perciform fish in the family Luvaridae whose only member is the luvar)

noun:

• greater palace; area centered on the inner palace, home to various administrative bodies (in Heian period Kyoto) ➜ 内裏

noun:

• shingling using thick roof shingles; roof shingled in such a manner (usu. shrine buildings, noh stages, etc.) ➜ 栩板

noun:

• bodyguards in service of the shogun who would walk ahead of him on an outing (Edo period)

noun:

• tanbo art; using rice of various types and colours to create giant pictures in rice fields

noun:

• fruits left on a tree during winter (supposedly causing more fruits to appear in the next season) - archaism

noun:

• Washington Convention (i.e. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) ➜ ＣＩＴＥＳ

expression:

• pretending not to see something; turning a blind eye to; burying one's head in the sand ➜ 見て見ぬ振り

noun:

• wait for the middle tile of a three-in-a-row which will finish one's hand - Mahjong term

noun:

• wand used when preparing gruel for the 15th of the first month (said to cure sterility in women)

noun:

• feudal lord who did not leave his domains to meet the shogun in Kyoto (during the Muromachi period)

noun:

• misedashi; debut of an apprentice geisha; ceremony in which a shikomi becomes a maiko ➜ 仕込み【しこみ】・舞子【まいこ】

expression / noun:

• having one's own premises ➜ 部屋持ちの親方【へやもちのおやかた】
• Edo-period prostitute successful enough to have her own room in an establishment - abbr. of 部屋持ち女郎

expression:

• slow but steady wins the race; constant effort will result in success; constant dripping wears away a stone [literal] - proverb

noun:

• samya mandala (in Shingon); mandala where each deity is represented by an object (lotus flower, gem, sword, etc.) - Buddhism term ➜ 四種曼荼羅【ししゅまんだら】