Vocabulary

Four Home Provinces (Yamato, Yamashiro, Settsu, and Kawachi; made obsolete in 757)

Treaty of Shimoda (1855); treaty initiating official relations between Russia and Japan

Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1875); Russo-Japanese treaty in which Japan exchanged Sakhalin for the Kuril Islands

metal terminal

urasuji; side fork

inspector (of the Dazaifu)

triangular sink tidy (usu. used to strain waste)

Kagutsuchi; fire deity who burned to death his mother Izanami during childbirth (and was therefore beheaded by his father Izanagi)

draft of magazine's content (a table showing the allocation of each page)

Kagutsuchi; fire deity who burned to death his mother Izanami during childbirth (and was therefore beheaded by his father Izanagi)

Kagutsuchi; fire deity who burned to death his mother Izanami during childbirth (and was therefore beheaded by his father Izanagi)

Kagutsuchi; fire deity who burned to death his mother Izanami during childbirth (and was therefore beheaded by his father Izanagi)

Amaterasu Ōmikami (sun goddess)

Amaterasu Ōmikami (sun goddess)

lord; god; goddess; honorific title for deities (and high-ranking people)

Okuninushi; deity of magic and medicine later viewed as equivalent to Daikokuten and celebrated at Izumo Grand Shrine

Okuninushi; deity of magic and medicine later viewed as equivalent to Daikokuten and celebrated at Izumo Grand Shrine

Okuninushi; deity of magic and medicine later viewed as equivalent to Daikokuten and celebrated at Izumo Grand Shrine

Okuninushi; deity of magic and medicine later viewed as equivalent to Daikokuten and celebrated at Izumo Grand Shrine

tenshō ōban; oval gold coin struck by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1588

many gods; many deities; many kami

Izumo mythology

ichibubankin; Edo-period rectangular gold coin worth one quarter ryō

copper coin (Edo period)

doctor fish (Garra rufa); nibble fish; kangal fish; reddish log sucker

plover on the riverside; plovers near a river

flocking plovers; flock of plovers

soy flour made from parched green soybeans

mochi filled with red bean paste and topped with green soy flour

lesser cuckoo (Cuculus poliocephalus)

anniversary of Shiki Masaoka's death (September 19)

thick clouds

the morning after a couple have slept together; parting ways the morning after having slept together

the morning after (having slept together)

creeping plant withered in the winter cold

actor print; yakusha-e; ukiyo-e print of kabuki actors

ezōshi shop; Edo-period shop selling picture books, wood prints, etc.

broken windows theory; criminological theory stating that serious crime can be prevented by maintaining the good physical condition of an urban environment

time to prepare a rice nursery

stepping outside to cool down; cooling down outside the gate