御用納め

ごようおさめ

year-end office closing (usu. Dec. 28)

始め

はじめ

beginning, start, outset, opening

御歌会始

おうたかいはじめ

annual New Year's poetry reading (held at the Imperial Court)

御用

ごよう

your order, your business, official business

出始め

ではじめ

first appearance (of the season)

事始め

ことはじめ

taking up a new line of work, the beginning of things

姫始め

ひめはじめ

eating the first meal of soft rice (himeii) after the traditional hard rice of New Year (kowaii)

見始め

みはじめ

seeing for the first time, first sight

始める

はじめる

to start, to begin, to commence, to initiate, to originate

始めは

はじめは

at first, in the beginning, originally

手始め

てはじめ

outset, start, beginning

御様御用

おためしごよう

sword tester (Edo period); executioner

集め始める

あつめはじめる

to begin to catch (attention, etc.), to begin to collect

歌会始め

うたかいはじめ かかいはじめ

annual New Year's poetry reading

始めから

はじめから

from the beginning

出始める

ではじめる

to begin to appear, to begin to come in

仕事始め

しごとはじめ

resuming work after the New Year's vacation, first time that one works in the year

弓場始め

ゆばはじめ

ceremony on the fifth day of the 10th lunar month in which the emperor would watch prize archery (Heian and Kamakura periods)

手始めに

at first; at the outset; to begin with; as a first step