Vocabulary

driving out evil spirits (on New Year's eve)

roasted soybeans scattered to drive away evil spirits

small-scale whiting (Sillago parvisquamis); blue whiting

Acanthodes (member of an extinct genus of spiny shark)

fish served with white rice on New Year's eve

white-spotted char (Salvelinus leucomaenis leucomaenis); Japanese char

mochi received from one's parents after giving birth (trad. eaten in miso soup to improve lactation)

fortifying mochi; mochi that improves one's strength

custom of having toddlers step on a sticky rice cake on their first birthday

custom of tying a large mochi on a toddler's back on his or her first birthday

divination based on laying out various items before a toddler and predicting his future based the items chosen

large mochi (usu. used for ceremonies)

Zen master

weedy seadragon (Phyllopteryx taeniolatus); common seadragon

yellowtail blue snapper (Paracaesio xanthura); yellowback fusilier

fabric store; draper; dry-goods store

ishigantō; stone tablet inscribed with the word "ishigantō" placed at crossroads, on stone walls etc. in southern Kyūshū and Okinawa to ward off evil spirits; orig. a Chinese custom

empty residence; empty estate

leper

sardine and holly charm; sardine head and holly branch placed next to the front door during setsubun to ward off demons

night of the 15th day of the first month in the lunar calendar

night of the 15th day of the first month in the lunar calendar

Bonga shad (Ethmalosa fimbriata)

spinycheek sleeper (Eleotris oxycephala); spined sleeper

yellow clown goby (Gobiodon okinawae)

barred flagtail (Kuhlia mugil); five-bar flagtail

dusky frillgoby (Bathygobius fuscus)

snake mackerel (Gempylus serpens)

basilosaurus (member of a genus of early whales)

blue trevally (Carangoides ferdau); banded trevally; barred trevally; Ferdau's trevally; Forskaal's jackfish

sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus)

convict cichlid (Amatitlania nigrofasciata)

zander (Sander lucioperca); pike-perch

sympatry

great spotted cuckoo (Clamator glandarius)

kleptoparasitism; cleptoparasitism

mutualism; symbiosis

southern platyfish (Xiphophorus maculatus); common platy; moonfish

lookdown (Selene vomer)

angelfish (Pterophyllum scalare); freshwater angelfish