国

Pattern visualization

Examples

1. 私の国は韓国です。▶ —
   My country is Korea.
2. お国はどちらですか。▶ —
   Which country are you from?

Collocations

Mnemonic

Kuni (国) is "country / homeland" — with culturally layered meaning. Kanji 国 (old form 國 = "boundary plus jewel" enclosed territory); on-reading koku (formal), kun-reading kuni (everyday). Cluster: (1) general country sense — watashi no kuni "my country," gaikoku "foreign country," kokkyou "border"; (2) o-kuni (polite) — "o-kuni wa dochira desu ka" carries dual sense: among Japanese it leans "hometown," to foreigners it leans "country"; (3) o-kunigara (national character / regional character — Japan emphasizes 47-prefecture differences with strong stereotype awareness — Kyoto-jin "graceful," Osaka-jin "commerce-savvy," Nagoya-jin "savers," Tohoku "endurance"); (4) kuni no uta (national anthem Kimi ga Yo). Cultural layering: inside Japan, o-kuni often means prefecture rather than nation, mismatching the Western "country" map; kuni is a three-layer ambiguity covering nation, prefecture, and hometown. Korean nara maps mainly to "nation," not Japans prefecture-level cultural code. JLPT N5 plus a Japanese identity cultural cluster.

Quick check

1. Dual meaning of "o-kuni wa dochira desu ka"?

   • Among Japanese it means hometown or prefecture; to foreigners it means country — context-dependent split
   • Country only
   • Hometown only
   • No synonym