郷 means “hometown, village, native place”

きょう · kyou

Also: home town, district

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)
さと
On'yomi (Chinese reading)
キョウ, ゴウ

JLPT N1 · Taught in grade 6 · 11 strokes

The story

The old form showed two people kneeling over a bowl of food: a meal shared in the village. 故郷 is your hometown, 郷土料理 its local dishes, and 郷に入っては郷に従え, follow the village's ways, is Japan's 'when in Rome'.

Used in 故郷 (kokyou, hometown), 郷土料理 (kyoudo ryouri, local cuisine), and 帰郷 (kikyou, homecoming)

More from Towns & Towers

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