In the previous entry I talked a little about 東 (East). Here I will cover the kun’yomi readings for all four compass points, with some more example words/phrases.
I also briefly mentioned the existence of on’yomi and kun’yomi readings. This is something that will come up often on here and I recommend reading this thorough Tofugu article for more context if you want to be on top of it, but that’s not necessary right now if you just want to learn some vocab. I used kun’yomi readings in the below and in the next entry will give some examples using on’yomi.
北
kun’yomi: きた
“kita”
north, northern
駅の北側
えきのきたがわ
“eki no kitagawa”
the north side of the station
船はまっすぐ北に向かっている
ふねはまっすぐきたにむかっている
“fune wa massugu kita ni mukatte iru”
the ship is bearing due north
東
kun’yomi: ひがし
“higashi”
east, eastern
東口
ひがしぐち
“higashi guchi”
east entrance
名古屋は京都の東の方にある
なごやはきょうとのひがしのほうにある
“nagoya wa kyōto no higashinohō ni aru”
Nagoya is to the east of Kyoto
南
kun’yomi: みなみ
“minami”
south, southern
南側
みなみがわ
“minamigawa”
south side
南アフリカのズールー族は独自の言語を持っている
みなみアフリカのズールーぞくはどくじのげんごをもっている
“minami afurika no zūrū-zoku wa dokuji no gengo o motte iru”
the Zulu tribe in South Africa has its own language
西
kun’yomi: にし
“nishi”
west, western
西日本
にしにほん
“nishi nihon”
Western Japan
列車は西へ走っていた
れっしゃはにしへはしっていた
“ressha wa nishi e hashitte ita”
the train was hurrying west
また午後にね!
Hey! Why did you say また午後にね?
また午後にね = “mata gogo ni ne!” = see you this afternoon. Today I am posting one entry in the morning and one in the afternoon. They are a pair! 🙂 I am not sure how common また午後にね is as a stock phrase so I would advise being slightly cautious with it, even though it ought to be clear and grammatical.
Image credit: The cover photo is the centre panel from the game Mahjong Soul, which I quite enjoy playing. If you play on the Asian server then more of the details are in Japanese/Chinese characters, such as these stylised compass points representing the “winds”.
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