night soil tank; excrement reservoir
A tank or pit for collecting human waste, traditionally used as fertilizer in agriculture. Often associated with historical or rural contexts. Cross-referenced with 肥溜め (こえだめ), which is a more common term for manure pit.
See also: 肥溜め
In old farmhouses, they used the fertilizer from the night soil tank in the rice paddies.
Cleaning the night soil tank was hard labor.
Standard kanji spelling. 糞 means excrement, 溜め means reservoir or accumulation.
Abbreviated spelling without the okurigana め.
Mixed kanji-katakana spelling, sometimes used for emphasis or in informal writing.
Compound of 糞 (くそ, 'excrement') and 溜め (ため, 'accumulation, reservoir'). The reading だめ is a rendaku form of ため.