陰口 [かげぐち] – gossip; talking about someone behind their back

• 陰 [イン・かげ] – shade; shadow; secret; yin
• 口 [コウ・くち] – mouth

If you have a secret, shady mouth, you might be talking about people behind their backs.

You’ve like already seen 陰 in the form 陰陽.  In Japanese, it is pronounced いんよう, but you’re probably more likely to recognize it as it’s read in Chinese: Yin/Yang.

• 辰 [シン・たつ] – sign of the dragon
• 年 [ネン・とし] – year

Happy 2012 from nihongo à gogo!

• 認 [ニン] – acknowledge; recognize
• 知 [チ・しる] – know; wisdom
• 症 [ショウ] – illness

• 偽 [にせ] – false; counterfeit; fake
• 旗 [はた] – flag
• 作戦 [さくせん] – strategy
• 作 [さく・つくる] – to make; to build
• 戦 [せん・いくさ] – war; battle

The phrase “False Flag” refers to a covert action, often of a military nature, that is designed to deceive the public into thinking that the action was taken by another country or party.  It comes from the military concept of raising a flag other than one’s own to deceive the enemy.  (偽旗 is a literal translation of “False Flag.”)

• 乾 [カン] – heaven (also means dry, drought)
• 坤 [コン] – earth
• 一 [いち] – one
• 擲 [テキ] – resign

乾坤 [けんこん] – heaven and earth; universe

一擲 [いってき] – cast off

平衡感覚 [へいこうかんかく] – sense of equilibrium or balance

• 平 [ヘイ・たいら・ひら] – even; flat
• 衡 [コウ] – equilibrium
• 感 [カン] – feeling; sensation
• 覚 [カク・おぼえる] – remember; learn

平衡 [へいこう] – equilibrium; balance

感覚 [かんかく] – sense; feeling

The word in Japanese for “balance beam” (as in gymnastics) is:

平均台 「へいきんだい」

• 平 [ヘイ・たいら・ひら] – even; flat
• 均 [キン] – level; average
• 台 [ダイ] – pedestal; stand

窮屈 [きゅうくつ] – narrow; tight; stiff

• 窮 [キュウ・きわまる] – cornered; hard up
• 屈 [クツ・かがむ] – bend; submit; flinch

立春 [りっしゅん] – the first day of spring

• 立 [リツ・たつ] – to stand (up)
• 春 [シュン・はる] – springtime

According to the Japanese calendar, Spring is supposed to “stand up” on February 4th this year.  Tell that to the millions of people all over the US who are buried under feet of snow and ice!

鬼は外、福は内!

節分 [せつぶん] – A holiday celebrating the last day of winter in the traditional Japanese calendar

• 節 [セツ・ふし] – time; section; node
• 分 [フン・ブン] – minute; segment

Happy Setsubun!