Herculean task; next-to-impossible undertaking
Sharaku (Edo period painter)
sudden rise; sharp rise; boom; skyrocketing
Toshusai Sharaku (Edo period painter)
to flatter; to curry favor with; to curry favour with; to flirt with (woman with a man); to make eyes at (a man)
disliked; hated; tendency; smack (of); distinction; discrimination
hard to believe; fabulous; unbelievable; incredible
to hand over; to transfer; to give up (e.g. one's seat); to give way; to yield; to concede
secondhand bookshop; antiquarian bookshop
rash; boil; secondhand article; bargain; fart
too-good-to-be-true offers (e.g. scams and frauds); too-good-to-be-true stories
have to (verb); must (verb); is indispensable; absolutely necessary
rising rapidly (e.g. prices, popularity); soaring; skyrocketing; going through the roof
upstart; nouveau riche; new money; piece promoted to gold general
suddenly (rising to fame, etc.); instantly; immediately; one bound; one leap
to be under control; to burn down; to decline; to drop; to wane
to row (a boat) to (a pier, shore, etc.); to reach (a goal after considerable effort); to arrive at; to (finally) manage to do
Rikyuu; Sen no Rikyuu (1522-1591)
antiques; old works of art
just like; (virtually) no different from; (almost) the same as; as good as (e.g. dead, settled)
second-hand shop; curio shop
painter; artist; painter supported by patron
eaves; narrow aisle surrounding the core of a temple building
how; in what way; why; for what reason; cannot possibly; no way
fiction writer; dime novelist
tea-server; flatterer; sycophant
to discuss; to talk together
left-hand radical of a character
handmade; homegrown; hand-crafted; homemade
turban shell (any mollusc of the family Turbinidae, esp. the horned turban, Turbo cornutus)
funerals and ceremonial occasions
to take away; to carry away
to compete; to contend; to vie; to contest
giving rise to the desire to save all sentient beings; praying; prayer