Cardinal points, directions, and locations in Japanese

Have you ever wondered how to say north, south, east, and west in Japanese? In this article, you will expand your Japanese vocabulary by learning the directions, cardinal, and relative points. Direction in Japanese is called houkou [方向].

Directions and Cardinal Points in Japanese

Portuguese	Japanese	Reading	Rōmaji
North	北	きた / ほく	kita / hoku
(N) to the east	東	ひがし	higashi
(N) South, Proceeding south (P)	南	みなみ	minami
(N) to the west	西	にし	nishi
Northeast (Direction)	北東	ほくとう	hokutou
Northeast (Region)	東北	とうほく	tōhoku
Northwest (Direction)	北西	ほくせい	hokusei
Northwest (Region)	西北	せいほく	seihoku
Southeast (Direction)	南東	なんとう	nantou
Southeast (Region)	東南	とうなん	tounan
Southwest (Direction)	南西	なんせい	nansei
Southwest (Region)	西南	せいなん	seinan
North-Northeast	北北東	ほくほくとう	hokuhokutou
East-Northeast	東北東	とうほくとう	touhokutou

Perhaps you are also interested in reading about the regions of Japan. Learning the regions of Japan will help you not get lost when looking for a direction. For example, we have Hokkaido, a region that is located in the north of Japan.

Examples:

• Kitamuki [北 向き] – Facing north;
• Kitakaze [北風] – North wind;
• Kitanihon [北日本] – North of Japan;

You also noticed that to change a direction to a region, just invert the kanji.

We recommend reading: The map of Japan and its 8 Regions

Directions and Relative Locations

Below we will study the directions in Japanese such as left and right and some relative locations like corners, inside, outside, and others. You may also be interested in reading about Japanese numbers.

Portuguese	Japanese	Reading	Rōmaji
(A) to the left	左	ひだり	hidari
(A) right	右	みぎ	migi
above	上	うえ	ue
below	下	した	shita
upper left	左上	ひだりうえ	hidariue
lower left	左下	ひだりした	hidarishita
upper right corner	右上	みぎうえ	migiue
lower right	右下	みぎした	migishita
forward	前	まえ	mae
backward	後ろ	うしろ	ushiru
Straight	真っ直ぐ	まっすぐ	massugu
vertical	縦	た て	tate
horizontal / Side / Lateral	横	よ こ	yoko
diagonal	斜め	な な め	naname
4 Directions	東西南北	とうざいなんぼく	touzainanboku
Near	近く	ちかく	chikaku
Far	遠い	とおい	tooi
Distant	離れて	はなれて	hanarete
Next, beside	隣	となり	Tonari
Next		そばに	soba ni
Before, In front	前	まえ	mae
After		あと	Ato
Inside, in the middle	中	なか	naka
Between the (the)	間に	あいだに	aidani
Outside	外	そと	soto
Up	上がり	あがり	agari
Down	下り	くだり	kudari
Around		まわり	mawari

[真っ直ぐ] is normally written [真っすぐ];

Examples:

• Migite [右手[ – Right hand;
• Nishikaigan [西海岸] – West coast;
• Ienosoto [家の外] – Outside the house;

Example Sentences in Japanese

Below are some example sentences for you to study the cardinal points and directions in Japanese:

It is straight.

真っ直ぐです.
Massugu desu.

This city is like this.

その道に沿って行って下さい.
Sono michi ni sotte itte kudasai.

Go right to reach the city.

町を沿って真っ直ぐ行って下さい.
Machi o sotte massugu itte kudasai.

Please go to the city.

町に行って下さい.
Machi ni itte kudasai.

Turn left.

左に曲がって下さい.
Hidari ni Magatte kudasai.

Turn right.

右に曲がって下さい.
Migi ni Magatte kudasai.

It is in front of the bank.

銀行の向かいで す.
Ginkou no mukai desu.

It is next to the bank.

銀行の隣です.
Ginkou no tonari desu.

It is located on the opposite side.

反対側です.
Hantai-gawa desu.

Videos about Directions in Japanese

To conclude the article, we will leave some videos that talk more about the cardinal points and directions in Japanese.

I hope this article has helped you understand directions in Japanese. If you liked it, don’t forget to share and leave your comments.