Japanese Vocab – North, South, East, West

Japanese Vocabulary – Compass Directions 方角 – Review Notes

Today we learned how to say the Compass Directions (North, South, East, and West) in Japanese!

In these review notes, we will learn the words for North-East, North-West, South-East, and South-West, and we will have a closer look at the kanji that is used in today’s Japanese vocabulary.

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Today’s Japanese Vocabulary Lesson is:

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★　Direction in Japanese is 方角 (ほうがく – hougaku).

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★　The Japanese word for North is 北 (きた – kita).

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★　The Japanese word for South is 南 (みなみ – minami).

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★　The Japanese word for East is 東 (ひがし – higashi)

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★　The Japanese word for West is 西 (にし – nishi).

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★　If you want to say all four directions at once, you should say 東西南北 (とうざいなんぼく – touzainanboku).

★　Notice that this word uses the kanji for all four directions: 東 (East), 西 (West), 南 (South), 北 (North) but that it is not spoken ashigashinishiminamikita.

★　This is because kanji have multiple ways of being read. The kun-reading of these kanji is used when saying one direction at once, but the on-reading is used when they are combined into one word.

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Additional Compass Directions:

North-East　　　hokutou 　　北東（ほくとう）

North-West　　   hokusei 　　 北西（ほくせい）

South-East　　　nantou　　　南東（なんとう）

South-West　　   nansei　　　 南西（なんせい）

★　Similar to 東西南北 (touzainanboku), these words also use different readings of the kanji.

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Conclusion:

Today we learned the compass directions in Japanese! If you have any questions, please leave a comment below! \(◕ω◕)/☆

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