severe; harsh; hard; cruel; rigorous
literary style; form of (written) language (e.g. classical, modern)
vague; obscure; indistinct; hazy; ambiguous
to try to do; to attempt to do
from out of nowhere; from who knows where
protagonist; main character; hero; head (of a household); proprietor (of a store)
love; romance; tender passion; emotion; affections
to get fed up with; to get sick of; to become disgusted with
to invite; to ask (someone to do); to tempt; to lure; to induce (tears, laughter, sleepiness, etc.); to arouse (e.g. sympathy)
to accompany; to follow; to keep up with
(another's) son; boy; young master; green young man from a well-to-do family; young man innocent of the ways of the world
lesson; precept; teachings; moral
doubt; question; suspicion; dubiousness
growth; development; growing up; growth (of a company, the economy, etc.)
feeling in the hands (when striking, poking, etc.); (feeling of) resistance; response (to one's efforts); reaction; (having an) effect (on)
to finish reading; to read through
to stay in one's heart; to be enduringly memorable; to be unforgettable
present day; modern times; recent times; early modern period (in Japan, usu. from the Meiji Restoration until the end of World War II)
novel about one's education, spiritual growth, etc.; Bildungsroman
the way in which something came about; origin; structure; organization; the way something is constructed
in drops; dripping; gently (sloping); sluggishly; endlessly; leisurely
to fret (over); to brood (about); to mope; worriedly; (fretting) constantly; (worrying) over this and that
hole; opening; pit; hollow; burrow; den; deficit
choice; selection; option
the defensive; passive attitude; passivity; the passive; passive voice; ukemi (the art of falling safely)
one's own strength or effort; (by) oneself
to pile up; to heap up; to stack up; to repeat many times over; to go through repeatedly; to accumulate
sticking to; clinging to; adhesion; cohesion; agglutination
unconsciously; without knowing it; unwittingly; unawares
especially; particularly; above all; portioning out (servings of food)
even more; still more; one step; one rung; one paragraph; one passage
persuasiveness; powers of persuasion; cogency
wastebasket; wastepaper basket
to quarry; to cut (timber); to begin to talk; to break the ice; to start a fire (with flint, by rubbing sticks together, etc.); to select and extract (from a media file)
please; kindly; by all means; certainly; here you are; to give
if only (you) have; as long as (you) have; whenever (you) have
to guess; to sense; to presume; to sympathize with; to sympathise with
ryokan; traditional Japanese inn
juvenile division (police); juvenile section
to open (e.g. doors); to open (e.g. business, etc.); to be empty; to be vacant; to be available; to be open (e.g. neckline, etc.); to have been opened (of one's eyes, mouth, etc.)