Kanji · JLPT N5 · Level 9
東 east
- Meaning
- east
- On reading
- トウ
- Kun reading
- ひがし
Memory hook
日 (sun) caught inside 木 (tree): the sun rising up through the trees. トウ in compounds, ひがし on its own. 東京 Tōkyō is 'eastern capital'.
Words that use 東
東
ひがし
east
東京
とうきょう
Tokyo
How to write 東
Stroke order · 8 strokes
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
- 1. Horizontal.
- 2. Vertical.
- 3. Horizontal, then turn down.
- 4 to 5. Horizontal.
- 6. Vertical.
- 7. The sweep down to the left.
- 8. The diagonal down to the right.
Stroke data from KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
General rules
- Top to bottom, left to right.
- Horizontal strokes before crossing vertical ones (十 = horizontal, then vertical).
- Outside before inside - but close a box last (口).
- A vertical that passes all the way through comes last (中).
- Left-falling diagonal before right-falling (大).
東 is taught on day 14 of the kanji course, alongside 左 右 西, with two writing passes and a short quiz.