Kanji 里

音読おんよみ:

訓読くんよみ: さと

画数かくすう: 7 strokes

部首ぶしゅ: 里(さと)

Meaning

Village / hometown / countryside / unit of distance

  • ふるさと — hometown (poetic/literary)
  • 郷里きょうり — native village
  • 万里ばんり — thousands of miles
  • 里山さとやま — village forest
  • 里心さとごころ — homesickness, longing for home

The character 里 combines the ideas of land (土) and rice field (田), originally symbolizing a village or rural land. Over time, it came to represent not only physical villages but also hometowns, emotional roots, and even a unit of distance.

正月しょうがつさとかえります。
I go back to my hometown for New Year's.

郷里きょうりおもす。
I remember my hometown.

郷
Creates
郷里きょうり — native village
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