• 蚊帳の外 - 'kaya no soto' , outside of the mosquito net, being excluded; being ignored; being kept in the dark (about); being kept out of the loop
  • 鰥寡孤独 - 'kankakodoku' , widowers and widowed, orphans and childless elderly. also means the lonely people of the world
  • 青菜に塩 - 'aona ni shio' "put salt on vegetables (and thus it shrivels)" , to look depressed
  • 赤の他人 - 'aka no tanin' , a complete stranger
  • 朝飯前 - 'asameshimae' , a piece of cake
  • 今は昔 - 'ima wa mukashi' , now in the past
  • 燎原の火 - 'ryougen no hi' , wildfire
  • 朽木糞牆 - 'kyūbokufunshō' , a piece of rotten wood cannot be turned into something beautiful. that is, a person whose spirit is rotten cannot benefit from education.
  • 鬼に金棒 - 'oni ni kanabō' , giving a metal rod to a demon. making someone even stronger.
  • 温良恭倹譲 - 'onryō kyōkenjō' , be cordial, kind, courteous, modest, and deferential.
  • 気が緩む - 'ki ga yurumu' , feel relaxed, be careless
  • 口を割る - 'kuchi o waru' , confess
  • 鶏鳴狗盗 - 'keimei-kutō' , a person, especially of a small caliber, who resorts to (or is only capable of) petty tricks
  • 軽裘肥馬 - 'keikyūhiba' , to be clothed in furs and ride in a carriage drawn by well fed horses. that is, the outfit in which rich people dress when they go out.
  • 心が広い - 'kokoro ga hiroi' , their heart is wide. generous, big-hearted.
  • 水泡に帰す - 'suihō ni kisu' , come to nothing
  • 白河夜船 - 'shirakawa yofune' , being fast asleep, dead to the world when sleeping , pretending to know everything, a know-it-all manner
  • 沈魚落雁 - 'chingyorakugan' , beauty truly can be stunning. literally, such was her beauty that, in a fluster, fish sank to the bottom of the sea and geese dropped from the sky.
  • 天衣無縫 - 'ten'imuhō' , flawless, perfect ; innocence, simple-mindedness ; 'tenpenchii' , an extraordinary natural occurrence: a catastrophe, a calamity
  • 堂堂の陣 - 'dōdō no jin' , a disciplined, orderly army with high morale.
  • 濡れ鼠 - 'nurenezumi' , completely soaked
  • 刎頸の交わり - 'funkei no majiwari' , a solid friendship of no regret even if one is to be beheaded for the other; friends sworn to death, eternal friendship
  • 文質彬彬 - 'bunshitsu hinpin' , the outer beauty and the inner quality are well-harmonized ; refined in manner, exhibiting a balance between civilized sophistication and simplicity
  • 文房四宝 - 'bunbōshihō' , four treasures of the study: the brush, ink, paper and inkstone used in chinese and other east asian calligraphic traditions
  • 無我夢中 - 'mugamuchū' , entirely engrossed in something
  • 健闘を祈る - 'kentō o inoru' , to wish someone a good luck, to wish someone success
jun 6 2021 ∞
jun 6 2021 +