県 means “prefecture”

けん · ken

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

かける

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

ケン

JLPT N4 · Taught in grade 3 · 9 strokes

The story

In the Meiji era Japan redrew its feudal domains into prefectures, trading samurai borders for modern maps. Every countryside address begins with one (長野県, 沖縄県): home, spelled from the outside in.

Used in 県 (ken, prefecture), 長野県 (nagano-ken, Nagano Prefecture), and 県庁 (kenchou, prefectural office)

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