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, living overwhelmingly inside the names of cities. 東京 is 東 (east) + 京 (capital) — a name newly given for lying east of Kyoto; the 1868 Meiji relocation turned 江戸 into 東京. The kanji 東 first pictured a sack tied at both ends and hung sideways, and as dawn light touches that sack, the metaphor of "east" settled onto it.

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