村 means “village”

むら · mura

Also: town

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

むら

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

ソン

JLPT N4 · Taught in grade 1 · 7 strokes

The story

A tree (木) beside a measure of land (寸): a village is where people live close to the forest. Japan's 村 are nestled in mountain valleys and along coastlines, communities where rice festivals and shrine ceremonies mark the turning seasons.

Used in 村長 (sonchou, village chief) and 村人 (murabito, villager)

More from Society & Government

• 会 meeting
• 社 company
• 官 government official
• 軍 army
• 公 public
• 私 private
• 世 world
• 界 world
• 国 country
• 王 king
• 法 law
• 政 politics

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