indicates possessive; nominalizes verbs and adjectives; substitutes for "ga" in subordinate phrases; indicates a confident conclusion; indicates emotional emphasis; indicates question
high-ranking noh actor; head of a school of noh performance; high ranking courtesan (esp. in Yoshiwara; Edo period); jōruri narrator; manzai narrator; female role actor in kabuki; lord steward (formerly the fifth court rank)
one; 1; best; first; foremost; beginning; start
from now; from this moment; henceforth
20 years old; (arch.) twenty
year; counter for years (e.g. of an era), grades (e.g. school); period of an apprentice's contract (usu. ten years)
remainder; remnant; (not) very; (not) much; too much; excessively; extreme
the old days; the past; former times; the past ten years; the past decade
any; anything; whatever; I am told; I hear; I understand
New Year (esp. first three days); first month of the year; January
the seven spring flowers; the seven fall flowers; the seven autumn flowers; the seventh of January; Festival of Seven Herbs
past; after; too (much); over- (e.g. eating)
if; when; and; as well as; with; together with; used for quoting (thoughts, speech, etc.)
memory; recollection; remembrance; memory; storage
indicates sentence topic; indicates contrast with another option (stated or unstated); adds emphasis
from; since; through (e.g. a window, door); via; because; as; from (as in "made from")
old person; senior citizen; the aged; the elderly
house; residence; family; household; lineage; family name
indicates direct object of action; indicates subject of causative expression; indicates an area traversed; indicates time (period) over which action takes place; indicates point of departure or separation of action; indicates object of desire, like, hate, etc.
to ask; to enquire; to inquire; to search; to look for; to look into
detective story (esp. one from the Edo period featuring thief-takers); detective's memoirs; thief taker's memoirs
materials; ingredients; material (for a novel, experiment, etc.); subject matter; grounds (for a decision, judgement, etc.); basis
(how) many times; (how) often
indicates a question; indicates an embedded question; indicates an indirect question; or; whether or not; some- (e.g. something, someone); hmm
at; in; to; toward; to; for; because of
to talk; to speak; to tell; to explain; to speak (a language)
to hear; to listen (e.g. to music); to ask; to enquire; to hear about; to hear of; to follow (advice, order, etc.)
to give; to let (one) have; to give; to do for one; to take the trouble to do; to do to someone's disadvantage
because; as; since; because of that; therefore; accordingly
today; this day; these days; recently; nowadays
too; also; both A and B; A as well as B; even; as much as
beginning of the year; new year; New Year's call; New Year's greetings
thanks; gratitude; manners; etiquette; bow (i.e. bending of the body); bowing; reward
to be unable to; to find difficult (unpleasant, awkward, painful) to do; to serve two or more functions or roles simultaneously; to contain (or combine) two or more features; to work in two or more jobs simultaneously (positions, etc.); to do alongside
foxtail millet (Setaria italica); Italian millet (also Hungarian, German)
good; excellent; sufficient; enough; profitable (deal, business offer, etc.); beneficial
again; once more; also; too; on the other hand; while; and
what; you-know-what; that thing; whatsit; whachamacallit; penis; (one's) thing
old tale; folk tale; legend; reminiscence
to get (information) out of someone; to extract (information) from someone; to find out (through questioning); to begin listening (to)
skilfulness; skillfulness; cleverness
pluralizing suffix; or so; rough indicator of direction, location, amount, etc.; nominalizing suffix
to blow (of the wind); to blow (one's breath); to breathe out; to play (a wind instrument); to blow (a whistle, trumpet, etc.); to emit (smoke, fire, etc.); to spout