Currently I live on an island in the middle of a bay, near a peninsula, so a lot of these were very functional words for communicating. I find these a bit in stories that I am reading as well.
そと outside 外
いなか countryside 田舎
いけ pond 池
みずうみ lake 湖
わん gulf 湾
いりえ bay 入り江
たき waterfall 滝
しま island 島
はんとう peninsula 半島
もり forest 森
たんぼ rice field 田んぼ
はたけ field 畑
いし stone 石
いわ large rock 岩
ほらあな cave ほら穴
ほし stars 星
そら sky 空
くも cloud 雲
かぜ wind 風
きり fog 霧
いなずま lightning
あめ rain 雨
ゆき snow 雪
みずたまり puddle 水たまり
くさ grass 草
どろ mud
はな flower 花
にじ rainbow 虹
き tree 木
は leaf 葉
にわ yard 庭
おか hill 丘
なみ wave 波
すな sand 砂
うみ ocean/sea 海
すなはま beach 砂浜
Stone / Rock:
The difference between いし and いわ was explained to me as いわ is something that goes from difficult to pick up and bigger. If you watched Okuribito / Departures, いし is what is used for the stones.
Fog is deep rather than thick:
きりが ふかい。
Beach – There are several ways to reference a beach, including the loan word ビーチ. I have been using the “Let`s Learn Japanese Picture Dictionary” to aid in my vocabulary selection since I like their grouping of common items. I have found several inaccuracies in the book including them listing Sand as すなはま, wich was how I first had the post listed. The two characters are actually sand shore, making one of the many was to say beach.
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