Vocabulary

to become scared; to have an attack of nerves; to have a yellow streak; to chicken out; to run out of courage

to come to nothing; to end in failure; to fall through

to count on the abacus

to use a calculator

creepy (feeling); uneasy (feeling); bad (feeling); giving one the creeps; hideous; scaring

visitor from afar; foreign visitor

to spout (of a whale); to blow (water and air from a blowhole)

God's will; Heaven's will

to fix one's eyes on; to stare intently at; to study carefully (with the eyes)

to break down; to collapse; to fall apart

to sound out a person's feelings; to consult a person's pleasure

two people arguing and not letting the other express their opinions

two things that do not go well together; pairing kintsuba with loach soup

getting along extremely well; maintaining a fond friendship

long-established; old-established; traditional

time flies; like watching a white horse run by through a gap in the wall (Zhuangzi)

one cannot live solely by oneself; one cannot accomplish anything solely by oneself; clapping with one hand is hard

parents' partiality for their children; parents overvaluing their children

parents overvaluing their own children but looking down on others'

to be negligent; to neglect; to slight

to be (practically) deserted; to have no visitors; to set a sparrow net in front of the gate

better shoddy and sincere than clever and deceptive

openly and secretly; helping in all ways

helping and protecting in all ways; acting as a raincoat (protecting from rain) and acting as a hat (protecting from sun)

to have a narrow view of things; to look at the sky through a tube

better the devil you know than the devil you don't know; better the ogre you know than the Buddha you don't

better the devil you know than the devil you don't know; better the ogre you know than the god you don't

a wise retainer chooses a great lord to serve; a wise bird chooses a good tree in which to roost

fish in a pot about to be boiled; person who is blissfully unaware of deadly danger

what will happen to everyone else if I am not the one who goes?

one cannot shake the will of even the lowliest man; a person's will should be respected; even a menial deserves his convictions

a narrow-minded person cannot understand the ways of the world; a frog in the well cannot understand the ocean even if it is explained to it

there must be a clear distinction between the upper and lower classes; even new shoes must not be worn on the head

(the lesson that) one should not leave things unfinished

day and night; around the clock

being completely naked; (in) one's birthday suit

humiliation of defeat in battle; past humiliation by others; shame of an unendurable disgrace

to avenge a defeat; to regain one's honor

those who wish to rule the land must first cultivate their own characters, then manage their families, then govern their states; only then can they bring peace to the land

blessed are the peacemakers; one should appreciate and follow the advice of a mediator