間
あいだ · aida · JLPT N4 · noun
space
🚪☀️ 間 = gate 門 + sun 日: light through the gap between the doors
The kanji is a gate (門) with the sun (日) showing through the crack — originally the moon. That crack is the space between. Aida is the native reading, used for a gap in place or time: between two things, or during an interval.
ま · ma · JLPT N3 · noun
space
🚪☀️ 間 = gate 門 + sun 日: the gap where light gets through
The older form 閒 had a moon 月 inside the gate 門, meaning moonlight slipping through a gap. That gap came to mean space, a room, and the pause between notes or words, which Japanese calls ma.