The meaningful gap — in space, in music, in conversation. Superb single character.

What a Japanese person actually thinks
Recognised as a genuinely deep idea, and one Japanese people are proud of. A foreigner wearing 間 reads as someone who understood something real about how the culture works.

Meaning

Literally: sun seen through a gate
Actually: The interval between things, and the fact that the interval carries meaning. It's the pause in a rakugo punchline, the empty space in a composition, the beat before a reply. 間が悪い means awkward; 間が持たない means the silence has gone on too long.

Scores

Naturalness●●●●●

Very common character; the aesthetic sense is well established.

Coolness●●●●●

Twelve strokes with a big open centre — the character literally contains the space it names. Ages beautifully on skin.

Watch out

lowAlso just means 'room' (部屋 counting) and 'between'. The aesthetic reading needs a moment's context, which a tattoo provides.

On skin

間

Orientation: either

Mincho. The gate radical must stay open — a heavy brush render will close the middle and lose the whole point.