0051 畳

畳

This is the character for ‘tatami mat’ or ‘folding’ as a prefix, and is pronounced tatami. In Chinese the character means ‘to repeat’ and is pronounced dié.

There doesn’t seem to be any explanation for its origins, but it’s common enough in Japanese literature that we need a story to remember it.

Let’s say that the upper character, which usually means ‘field,’ here means ‘a four-tatami room.’ And let’s say that the rest of the character is a person, represented by an eye

目,

sleeping on one of those tatami, on the floor (the straight line on the bottom), below a ceiling

冖.