I've done a little more research on this, and it
is most likely that east-south-west-north order
comes from feng-shui.  You can find many articles
about this in the net.

BTW, several articles I found say that north-
east-south-west order is used in the U.S.
Any idea about this?


Ken Kato wrote on Thu, 18 Sep 2003 11:52:00 +0900
in article <bkb6ct$kmn$1@hawaii.ykhm.cij.co.jp>:
>Ron,
>
>An interesting question you've got.
>This is just my guess, and I haven't learned ethymology
>seriously so I may be completely wrong.
>
>AFAIK, the Chinese order follows the mithological "rank" of
>the directions.  East is the most important because, as you've
>guessed, the sun rises in the east.  The order of other
>directions also have "reasons", but I don't know if the order
>was decided after these reasons, or the reasons were made up
>after the actual order (clockwise from east).
>Also there is certain association between four directions and
>four seasons.
>
>I don't know why we use different order in Japan, but I'd guess
>there's a logic kind of similar to the order in western languages
>-- east, west (the opposite), south, north (the opposite)
>
>Oh, and your guess about the importance of north is the other
>way round actually -- direction of the head at death is north
>because it is the most ominous direction.
>
>
>Ron Andrews wrote on 14 Sep 2003 10:00:06 -0700
>in article <7594b59c.0309140900.258bd6f7@posting.google.com>:
>>Here's a language question I've been wondering about for a while that
>>I'm hoping some among you might help me understand better.
>>
>>Does anyone know the etymology or history behind the traditional
>>orders of compass directions stated in different languages?
>>
>>In English, German, possibly French, Italian, Spanish and others, the
>>order is stated as "north, south, east, west". In Japanese, however,
>>the order is "east, west, south, north" [東西南北 (tou, zai, nan, boku)].
>>In Chinese, I believe it's different again, as "east, south, west,
>>north" [東南西北 (dong, nan, xi, bei)]. Other than some guessing at the
>>importance of east (rising sun) and north (direction of the head at
>>death in Japan), I haven't come up with what sound like plausible
>>reasons for these different orders. The orders used surely reflect
>>other characteristics of the cultures involved, but what are they? One
>>Japanese fellow I asked said he thought it was because in Japanese
>>it's just easier to say it that way. I'm thinking it's got to be
>>deeper than that.
>>
>>I've scoured the Net and looked through a few language books I have
>>but have found nothing yet. Also, so far I've posted this question to
>>the four NGs above as well as to the SWET (Japan-based Society of
>>Writers, Editors and Translators) and Nihongo mailing lists, but if
>>anyone can suggest other newsgroups, mailing lists, etc., that would
>>be very helpful.
>>
>>So why are there different ways of saying the order of these
>>directions in different languages?
>>
>>Many thanks for any help with this.
>>
>>Ron in Nara

-- 
Ken Kato (kato.kenji@cij.co.jp)