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堂 — how to write the kanji for “public chamber”

堂 (“public chamber” and “hall”) is a JLPT N4 kanji taught in fifth grade in Japan. Its parts sit stacked: 尚 (“esteem”), strokes 1–8; 土 (“soil”, its radical), strokes 9–11, each finished before the next. On its own it is the word dou, “temple; shrine”. Its common words take the reading dou: 食堂 (“dining room”), 講堂 (“auditorium”), 一堂 (“one building…”) and 公会堂 (“town hall”). Chinese reads it táng, “hall”, at HSK 4.

Strokes
11
JLPT
N4
Radical
土 (“soil”)
On
ドウ

Stroke by stroke

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  1. Vertical ㇑topdownwards
  2. Dot ㇔top leftdown and right
  3. Left-falling stroke ㇒top rightdown and left
  4. Dot ㇔top leftdownwards
  5. Horizontal hook ㇖top leftrightwards
  6. Vertical ㇑leftdownwards
  7. Horizontal-turn ㇕leftrightwards → downwards
  8. Horizontal ㇐centerrightwards
  9. Horizontal ㇐bottom leftrightwards
  10. Vertical ㇑centerdownwards
  11. Horizontal ㇐bottom leftrightwards

Japanese and Chinese

Japanese and Chinese draw all 11 strokes in the same order and direction, by our stroke-by-stroke comparison.

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Japanese · KanjiVG · 11 strokes
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Chinese · Make Me a Hanzi · 11 strokes

Trace it

Follow the numbers. Tracing help

Readings

On (Chinese-derived)
ドウ dou
Kun (native)
none
Meanings
public chamber; hall
Read dou
食堂 講堂 一堂 公会堂 会堂 殿堂
School year
fifth grade
Newspaper rank
1010th of 2,500 (KANJIDIC2)
Korean hanja
당 dang
Common words
10 in JMdict

On and kun, explained

Words with 堂

WordReadingMeaning
食堂しょくどう shokudoudining room; dining hall
講堂こうどう koudouauditorium; lecture hall
一堂いちどう ichidouone building (hall, temple, shrine, room); same room
公会堂こうかいどう koukaidoutown hall; public hall
会堂かいどう kaidouchurch; chapel
殿堂でんどう dendoupalace; hall
聖堂せいどう seidou(Confucian) temple; church
議事堂ぎじどう gijidouassembly hall; parliament house
本堂ほんどう hondoumain hall; main temple
国会議事堂こっかいぎじどう kokkaigijidouparliament building; parliament house

Most common first (JMdict).

Practice sheet

Print at 100%. Several kanji: worksheet maker.

Keep going

Same parts:

JLPT N4, in list order: