畳
Mnemonic
You cross a field and discover stairs topped with a crown. Each step is a folded, stacked Tatami Mat — soft rush grass layered beneath your feet as you climb from the field to claim the crown above.
Additional thoughts
Visualize the kanji top to bottom: Field (田) sits on Crown (冖) sits on Stairs (且). Layers stacked like tatami mats folded and piled. The field of rush grass is woven, crowned, and stepped into place.Quick recall
Across a field, up stairs beneath a crown — each step a folded Tatami Mat.Details
The keyword for 畳 is tatami mat. This kanji refers to the traditional Japanese flooring material made of woven rush grass over a rice straw core, used as a standard unit of room measurement in Japanese architecture. By extension, it can also carry the meaning of folding, piling up, or layering, as tatami mats were historically folded and stacked when not in use. The character thus encompasses both the specific cultural object and the broader concept of repetition or accumulation.
- On'yomi
- じょう、ちょう
- Kun'yomi
- たた.む、たたみ、かさ.なる