里 means “village, home, ri (old league)”

さと · sato

Also: ri, parent's home, league

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

さと

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

リ

JLPT N1 · Taught in grade 2 · 7 strokes

The story

Rice fields (田) over earth (土): land where people farm and live, a village. 里帰り is going home to your parents, 里山 the tended woods around farm villages, and 里 was also an old Japanese league of about 4 km.

Used in 里帰り (satogaeri, visit to one's parents' home), 里山 (satoyama, village woodland), and 万里の長城 (banri no choujou, the Great Wall of China)

More from Towns & Towers

• 倉 warehouse
• 舎 building
• 丁 block
• 棟 ridgepole
• 舗 shop
• 荘 villa
• 壇 platform
• 架 span
• 廊 corridor
• 亭 pavilion
• 瓦 roof tile
• 桟 jetty

Learn 里 and more kanji free on Fuji Learning · All kanji

Readings from KANJIDIC2, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA.