Vocabulary

sweet yuzu-flavoured steamed dumpling

battledore; hagoita

Buckleya lanceolata (species of parasitic deciduous shrub)

old woman ghost from the Kanto region

artificial hairpin with ornamental flowers

Matsuo Basho remembrance day (12th day of the 10th lunar month, associated with the change of the seasons)

var. of fresh Japanese sweet made of white bean paste, egg yolk, sugar and rice granules

kōraimochi; Kagoshima mochi made from a mixture of rice flour and sweet bean paste

colorful wedding kimono

Mount Penglai

souvenir from the mountains

red and white egg-shaped mochi

sweet mochi cake

Harvest festival held on the night of the tenth day of the tenth month (to send the rice paddy gods back to the mountains after harvest)

day of the boar in the tenth month

day-of-the-Boar mochi (made with new grains)

day of the Boar in the month of the Boar (the 10th month in the lunar calendar)

Bellows Festival; festival for blacksmiths and foundries on the eighth day of the eleventh month of the lunar calendar, on which they would clean their bellows and pray

visible breath (i.e. when it's cold); frosty breath; white breath

the Big Dipper seen on a winter night

interstellar gas

Pleiades (in Greek mythology)

Pleiades (esp. in winter)

visitors' book; guest book

turning point; turnaround point (e.g. in a race); turning back point

aortic dissection

creative urge

Haast's eagle (Harpagornis moorei); Harpagornis eagle

common buzzard (Buteo buteo)

long-legged buzzard (Buteo rufinus)

brown tree snake (Boiga irregularis)

white bean jam; sweet white bean paste

rice granules; coarse glutinous rice flour (often used in candy production)

rice flour dough

rice flour

Day-of-the-Boar Festival

mutual financing association

driving away moles by hitting the ground with straw bundles prepared by children (esp. as an event on Koshōgatsu)

first lighting of the hearth in a Zen temple (first day of the 10th or 11th month)

closing of the fireplace in a Zen temple (first day of the 2nd month)