Field-ridge character

A raised earthen ridge that divides rice fields.

It marks the boundary between plots and helps hold or guide water; the same word can also mean a small embankment. It names the earthwork, not the crop or the whole plot.

A related form, 塍, appears in bronze inscriptions from the Spring and Autumn period in early China. The old Chinese dictionary Shuowen Jiezi defines 塍 as a ridge in rice fields; that history does not date the exact 畻 spelling. Japanese dictionaries also list 畻 with the readings あぜ (roughly “ah-zeh,” the Japanese word for a paddy ridge) and ショウ (roughly “shoh,” with a long o), preserving its agricultural sense.

畻 vs 塍: what's the difference?

They are related written forms for the same field-ridge term.

Chinese reference works list 畻 as a variant of 塍; the Taiwan Ministry of Education variant dictionary gives 塍 as the main form. When transcribing a source, keep its spelling. In new writing, follow the form your readers recognize.