東

Pattern visualization

Examples

1. 東京は日本の東にあります。▶ —
   Tokyo is in the east of Japan.
2. 東口で待ち合わせしましょう。▶ —
   Let's meet at the east exit.

Collocations

Mnemonic

東 higashi — onyomi とう (tou). Dominates city names: 東京 (Toukyou, Tokyo) = "Eastern Capital" — named when the capital moved east from Kyoto in 1868 (renamed from 江戸 Edo). 中東 (chuutou, Middle East), 東洋 (touyou, the East/Orient), 東欧 (touou, Eastern Europe) — large-region names. The kanji 東 originally pictured a tied-up sack hung horizontally — "sack" was the core sense, "east" came as a metaphor (sunlight striking the sack at sunrise).

Quick check

1. Literal meaning and naming era of 東京?

   • Eastern Capital · renamed from Edo at the 1868 Meiji capital transfer
   • Eastern Market · Edo period
   • Eastern Village · Kamakura period
   • Great East · post-1945