青短

Japanese

Kanji in this term
あお
Grade: 1
たん
Grade: 3
kun'yomi on'yomi
Alternative spellings
靑短 (kyūjitai)
青タン
靑タン (kyūjitai)
青丹 (uncommon)
The three aotan cards in a hanafuda deck

Etymology

From (ao, blue) + clipping of 短冊 (tanzaku, small strip of paper that can be written on).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [a̠o̞tã̠ɴ]

Noun

(あお)(たん) • (aotan

  1. (hanafuda) Any of the three hanafuda cards that depict a purple or blue tanzaku; i.e. the peony tanzaku card, the chrysanthemum tanzaku card, or the maple 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.
    • 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.

Coordinate terms

Descendants

  • Korean: 청단 (cheongdan) (calque)