八

game of chance similar to rock, paper scissors, where the different hand gestures symbolize a fox, a hunter and a village head

night-watch bell; bells tolling out the old year

Seishun 18 ticket; seasonally available railway ticket for 5 days of unlimited travel on non-Shinkansen JR trains

Buddhism

the eight legions (devas, nagas, yaksas, gandharvas, asuras, garudas, kimnaras, mahoragas)

Company name

Eighteenth Bank, Limited

Idiomatic expression

both eloquent and skilled

Proverb

eating moderately keeps the doctor away

Astronomy

Octans (constellation); the Octant

28-spotted ladybird (Epilachna vigintioctopunctata)

From the names of two stock characters in rakugo

the average Joe; the man in the street

Buddhist service centred around the Lotus Sutra held over four days in Shiga Prefecture, starting from the 24th day of the second month of the lunisolar calendar

cold wind blowing at Lake Biwa around the 24th day of the second month of the lunisolar calendar

Proverb

just as even coarse tea tastes good when fresh, even homely girls look beautiful at the peak of their youth

small opening in the side of some traditional Japanese clothing for women and children (e.g. kimono, yukata) (located where the sleeve meets the bodice, below the armpit)

Arctic lamprey (Lethenteron camtschaticum)

Far Eastern brook lamprey (Lethenteron reissneri); sand lamprey

Buddhism

the eighteen arhats

tesseract

eighth brain nerve; nervus vestibulocochlearis; vestibulocochlear nerve

February and August (months when business is generally at its slowest)

sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus)

eighteen centers of Buddhist learning (of the Pure Land sect in the Kanto region)

pouched lamprey (Geotria australis); wide-mouthed lamprey

eighth