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The Master Puppeteer: Chapters 5–7

In feudal Japan, a puppeteer's apprentice attempts to figure out the identity of a notorious bandit.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–3, Chapter 4, Chapters 5–7, Chapters 8–11, Chapters 12–16
40 words 42 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

  1. petrify
    cause to become stunned or immobile, as with fear or awe
    Thanks to Kinshi, who regularly “borrowed” the texts for the upcoming performances, Jiro was memorizing the plays as he needed to and no longer had to stand petrified against the backstage wall waiting for a nod from a kindly left-hand operator to indicate at which moment the curtain should be yanked.
  2. snipe
    straight-billed game bird of the sandpiper family
    He would be hidden by the waist-high apron toward the front of the stage area, but it would be his hand holding the giant cloth clam in which the snipe’s beak was caught.
  3. discourse
    extended verbal expression in speech or writing
    After Watonai’s long discourse on the parable of the clam and the snipe—like two warring nations destroying each other and laying themselves open to attack from a third powerful force—Komutsu took her long tortoiseshell hairpin and pried open the clam shell, freeing the snipe.
  4. parable
    a short moral story
    After Watonai’s long discourse on the parable of the clam and the snipe—like two warring nations destroying each other and laying themselves open to attack from a third powerful force—Komutsu took her long tortoiseshell hairpin and pried open the clam shell, freeing the snipe.
  5. piercing
    very perceptive
    Somewhere Yoshida’s piercing black eyes were watching from under his hood.
  6. grippe
    an acute, febrile, highly contagious viral disease
    But it wasn’t the snipe’s farewell that eventually got Kinshi in trouble. It was a case of stomach grippe that came upon the foot operator Kawada one afternoon during the middle of the third act.
  7. revel
    unrestrained merrymaking
    Kinshi even persuaded the reluctant Wada to join the lantern-lit revels, and they all laughed as a teacupful of the potent sake raced down Minoru’s throat like water into a rain barrel.
  8. rigorous
    strict; allowing no deviation from a standard
    Kinshi had faced a rigorous examination onstage today and he had passed.
  9. rivulet
    a small stream
    Except that into the feeling of fear and respect that Jiro had for Yoshida, there appeared a new strain—hatred. It was like a rivulet of hot, molten lava deep within a mountain.
  10. dwindle
    become smaller or lose substance
    It was about six weeks before the profits began to dwindle and signal Yoshida that it was time to start work on a new production.
  11. mercantile
    relating to or characteristic of trade or traders
    Jiro doubted that Yoshida would ever endanger his profits by putting on a play that might offend his largely mercantile audience, but to his surprise Kinshi disagreed.
  12. contemporary
    characteristic of the present
    “It depends on the text,” he said. “If he likes the text, he’ll offend the Shogun himself. Besides, it’s set in the sixteenth century. They won’t be smart enough to see any contemporary relevance to a two-hundred-year-old story.”
  13. wizened
    lean and wrinkled by shrinkage as from age or illness
    It teased Jiro’s imagination to picture little wizened Okada dreaming up stories of brave robber barons and dictating them to an apprentice.
  14. alcove
    a small recess opening off a large room or garden
    “I don’t know.” Kinshi blushed. “I’ve always stolen for ours. Yoshida has kept them stacked by the alcove as long as I can remember. It was easy for me, and it helped the others.”
  15. nonchalant
    marked by casual unconcern or indifference
    Was Kinshi really so nonchalant about stealing his father’s property?
  16. decree
    decide with authority
    He’d hoped to figure out some kind of present to take to the chief reciter, but since fate decreed otherwise, he straightened his shoulders and marched behind his escort.
  17. rout
    cause to flee
    Tozo shoved the shutters open, letting in the pale winter sunshine. It was not strong enough to rout much of the damp, but somehow it made Jiro feel better than sitting in the dark.
  18. tantalizing
    very pleasantly inviting
    Fortunately, there was no tantalizing smell of cooking escaping from the theater.
  19. stifle
    smother or suppress
    What Jiro wanted to do was to go back to the kitchen and get something for Taro to eat. But he stifled the impulse.
  20. glutinous
    having the sticky properties of an adhesive
    The boys beat the glutinous rice until Mrs. Yoshida pronounced it ready to make into dumplings for the New Year soup and little cakes which could be toasted over the charcoal.
  21. adjoin
    lie next to another or share a boundary
    There were no quilts down in the adjoining mat room where his parents usually slept.
  22. noxious
    injurious to physical or mental health
    Jiro carried the cooking brazier into the backyard and made a fire, and when the noxious fumes burned off, he carried it back inside and put a kettle of water on.
  23. disheveled
    in disarray; extremely disorderly
    He hardly recognized her. Her eyes were wild, her hair disheveled, her kimono nearly torn off at the shoulder.
  24. piety
    righteousness by virtue of being religiously devout
    Now he had his lack of piety to add to the other troublesome omens of the day.
  25. amended
    modified for the better
    The boys waited impatiently as their elders pressed forward to read the master’s amended instructions for Okada’s play.
  26. capricious
    changeable
    Wada shrugged. With the capricious Yoshida, one never knew.
  27. mincing
    affectedly dainty or refined
    But dancing! The very word sent terror through his skull. Dancing with all those delicate mincing steps, those turns, coordinating everything perfectly with the head and hands.
  28. apprehension
    fearful expectation or anticipation
    Sick with apprehension, he almost gave up eating.
  29. vexation
    anger produced by some annoying irritation
    In the mornings Jiro practiced with Mochida and Ueno. At first, Ueno did not attempt to hide his vexation with Jiro's inexperience.
  30. sedate
    characterized by dignity and propriety
    For the benefit of the agents, Fusamu apparently goes mad with grief and begins to dance—at first sedately but gradually becoming more and more wild.
  31. subdue
    hold within limits and control
    It takes all three agents to subdue her, and while they are holding her to keep her from harming herself, the "country kin” carry out the "body.”
  32. rivet
    direct one's attention on something
    There were none of the poisons of resentment or anxiety shooting between the three operators now. The trust, the oneness, was taken for granted, and complete attention could be riveted on the doll.
  33. cohort
    a band of warriors
    When the scene was over—Joman having been carried out by his cohorts to the shrieks of insane mourning that Toyotake put into Fusamu’s mouth—the three of them hurried Fusamu off the stage.
  34. jostle
    come into rough contact with while moving
    Mochida jostled him as if by accident, but Jiro knew it was the operator’s way of thanking him.
  35. indulge
    enjoy to excess
    Word had spread even among the elite that Okada had produced something worth seeing, so the high-level samurai, whose code forbade their indulging in anything so vulgar as the theater, donned their large woven hats for disguise and tried to melt inconspicuously into the crowd sitting on the mat floor of the Hanaza.
  36. vulgar
    conspicuously and tastelessly indecent
    Word had spread even among the elite that Okada had produced something worth seeing, so the high-level samurai, whose code forbade their indulging in anything so vulgar as the theater, donned their large woven hats for disguise and tried to melt inconspicuously into the crowd sitting on the mat floor of the Hanaza.
  37. don
    put on clothes
    Word had spread even among the elite that Okada had produced something worth seeing, so the high-level samurai, whose code forbade their indulging in anything so vulgar as the theater, donned their large woven hats for disguise and tried to melt inconspicuously into the crowd sitting on the mat floor of the Hanaza.
  38. guffaw
    laugh boisterously
    Yet these very men who swore publicly that they would put an end to “that devil Saburo” or die in the attempt, these same men held their fat bellies and guffawed to see Joman wriggle his neck from under the ax and make a laughingstock of his pursuers.
  39. laughingstock
    an object of mockery or ridicule
    Yet these very men who swore publicly that they would put an end to “that devil Saburo” or die in the attempt, these same men held their fat bellies and guffawed to see Joman wriggle his neck from under the ax and make a laughingstock of his pursuers.
  40. notoriety
    the state of being known for some unfavorable act or quality
    So as a result of the combined popularity and notoriety of the play, the Hanaza was doing the best business in town.
Created on Thu Jun 17 19:36:16 EDT 2021 (updated Mon Jun 28 16:12:29 EDT 2021)

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