mouse; rat; dark gray; dark grey; slate (color, colour)
to borrow; to have a loan; to rent; to hire
cowrie (esp. the chocolate cowrie, Mauritia mauritiana); cowry
to surround; to encircle; to besiege; to lay siege to; to play (go, shogi, etc.)
topic; subject; rumor; talk; tale; story
splendid; nice; sufficient; fine (in the sense of "I'm fine"); well enough; OK
very hard; with utmost effort; as hard as one can; with all one's might; for dear life; eagerly
adventure; venture; venture which is unlikely to succeed; risky attempt; danger
foolishness; silliness; stupidity; (arch.) I; (arch.) me
acceptable; satisfactory; approval; being in favour; Pass (grade); Fair
to look up (at); to look up to; to respect; to ask for (e.g. guidance); to seek; to depend on
slip; omission; upshot; denouement; punch line (of a joke)
November; eleventh month of the lunar calendar
Sei Shonagon (Poet of the Heian period, included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu)
in history; ever; historical
leading; foremost; preeminent; outstanding; one of the best
be considered; be deemed; be thought to be
(arch.) retainer; (arch.) attendant; Omi (hereditary title; orig. one of the two highest such titles, later demoted to sixth highest of eight)
impertinent; saucy; cheeky; impudent; audacious; cocky
scrutiny; digging into; excavation; inquiry into; enquiry into; prying
to advance; to go forward; to precede; to go ahead (of); to make progress; to improve; to deepen
treatment; service; handling; management
to enter; to trespass; to interfere; to meddle; to pry into
excerpt; extract; annotation; shō (unit of volume, approx. 1.8 ml)
(arch.) birth parents; (arch.) birthplace; child; creation
many people; a large number of people
scholar of (ancient) Japanese literature and culture
forever; for good; eternally; as long as one likes; indefinitely; no matter what
by the way; incidentally; even if; no matter (who, what, when, where, why, how)
official recognition; authorization; authorisation; licence; license; accreditation