How To Write and Pronouce the North, South, West, and East in Japanese Kanji Symbols

Writing Four Winds in Japanese symbols
In this section, you will learn how to write the four compass directions in Japanese kanji symbols, and how to pronounce them in Japanese.

Firs of all, here are quick clues to help you remember them:

	North, which is pronouced as Kita in Japanese, looks like two people sitting back to back to keep warm.
	South, which is pronounced as Mitami in Japanese, looks like Japanese Yen symbols. So, more money in south!
	West, which is pronounced as Nishi in Japanese, looks like Japanese four kanji symbols. Žl
	East, which is pronounced as Higashi in Japanese, components of sun and tree. Sun rise in the east from

When putting them together, we will put them in the following order.

1. East
2. West
3. South
4. North

and, they are written like this, and pronouced them differently.

Practice to pronouce them in Japanese.
The second section teach you how to pronounce them in Japanese.
As you have read so far, there are two different ways to prounce them in Japanese, and it really depends on how they are used.

If it is used as a single kanji character, we read

• East - Higashi
• West - Nishi
• South - Minami
• North - Kita

But, when they are put them together, we prounce them:

• East - Tou
• West - Zai
• South - Nan
• North - Boku

So, you need to be carefull!
Anyway, please listen to the following audio lessons to practice your Japanese speaking skills!