赤短

From 赤 (aka, “red”) + clipping of 短冊 (tanzaku, “small strip of paper that can be written on”).

• IPA^(key): [a̠ka̠tã̠ɴ]

赤(あか)短(たん) • (akatan) 

1. (hanafuda) Any of the three hanafuda cards that depict a red tanzaku with writing on it; i.e. the pine tanzaku card, the plum blossom tanzaku card, or the cherry blossom tanzaku card.
   • 1979, 田辺聖子, 中山あい子, おんながつづるおんなのくらし: Tanoshimu, 筑摩書房, page 129:

     各々好きな札が決っているのも個性的でおもしろい。菊に盃をどうしても取りたがる酒豪家。私は桜の赤タンがいい。

     It's interesting how each person has their favorite card. One heavy drinker wants to capture the chrysanthemum's sake cup card no matter what. I prefer the cherry blossom's red tanzaku card.

   • 1995, 団鬼六, 真剣師小池重明‎^[1], 株式会社幻冬舎:

     「今日はトランプで遊んでいるの」「違うよ、花札。桜、松、梅で一役。赤タン、青タン三枚で一役。カスは十枚で一文」

     "Are we playing with poker cards today?" "No, hanafuda. Cherry, pine, and plum make one yaku. Three red tanzaku or blue tanzaku cards make one yaku. Ten kasu cards make one point."

   • 2015, 謝亦玫, 趙曼君, “修平科技大學　應用日語系　題目：花札”, in 修平科技大學‎^[2], archived from the original on 14 July 2025, page 30:

     5 点札は短冊(たんざく)と言う。絵柄は一月の松に赤短(あかたん)、二月の梅に赤短、三月の桜に赤短、四月の藤に短冊、五月の菖蒲に短冊、六月の牡丹に青短(あおたん)、七月の萩に短冊、九月の菊に青短、十月の十一月^[sic]紅葉に青短、柳に短冊の合計 10 枚である。

     The five-point cards are called tanzaku. They are January's pine with red tanzaku, February's plum with red tanzaku, March's cherry with red tanzaku, April's wisteria with tanzaku, May's iris with tanzaku, June's peony with blue tanzaku, July's bush clover with tanzaku, September's chrysanthemum with blue tanzaku, October's November ^[sic] maple with blue tanzaku, and willow with tanzaku, for a total of ten cards.

2. (hanafuda) A card combination made with all three of those cards.
   • 1973, 別册文藝春秋, numbers 126-129, 文藝春秋新社:

     「よしよし」「気イつけろ、よし子はフケる気になってらエ!」「そうはさせませんじゃ。ほら、持っていけ」「それッ。これでこっちは赤短(あかたん)でさね」と、女たちは掛声をかけながら花札に熱中している。

     The women were engrossed in their hanafuda game, shouting, "All right!" "Watch out, good children had better want to run and hide!" "I won't let you! Here, just you wait!" "There! With that I got akatan!"

   • 2012, 一ノ瀬武志, “新しい花札入門（改訂第七版）”, in 古典ゲームの研究‎^[3], published 2014, archived from the original on 8 October 2022, page 32:

     赤短、青短ができたあと、短冊札１枚追加につき１文増し、とする地方もあります。

     There are regions where, after completing akatan or aotan, you get one more point each time one tanzaku card is added.

• 青(あお)短(たん) (aotan)
• 草(くさ)短(たん) (kusatan)

• → Korean: 홍단 (hongdan) (calque)