壇 means “platform, stage, altar”

だん · dan

Also: podium, rostrum, terrace

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

ダン, タン

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 16 strokes

The story

Earth (土) heaped up and leveled: a raised platform. 壇 is anything raised: the teacher's 教壇, a 花壇 of flowers, the 仏壇 altar in a Japanese home. And 土壇場, the very last moment, began as the earthen mound at Edo execution grounds.

Used in 花壇 (kadan, flower bed), 仏壇 (butsudan, household Buddhist altar), and 土壇場 (dotanba, the last moment)

More from Towns & Towers

• 架 span
• 廊 corridor
• 亭 pavilion
• 瓦 roof tile
• 桟 jetty
• 楼 tower
• 桁 digit
• 街 street
• 邸 residence
• 郡 county
• 郷 hometown
• 隣 next door

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Readings from KANJIDIC2, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA.