Usage of むこう to describe sunrise


> 太陽は、昔と同じこぎれいな庭の **むこうから昇り** 、...  
>  The sun rose on the same tidy gardens and ...

If I were to translate this word-for-word I would get "the sun climbed from
the opposite side of the same tidy gardens".

Maybe I'm thinking about this too literally but the picture in my head is that
maybe I'm stood on the west side of the garden and the sun is rising on the
opposite side (east). But if I now watch the sunrise from the south side of
the garden, the sun is no longer opposite me, so it seems that むこう is
inappropriate.

Is Xのむこうから昇り a standard way to talk about the sun rising over X? Perhaps my
understanding of むこう is too narrow. Is there a better way to think about it
than just 'opposite'? I'm aware of it's usage as 'over there', but that seems
to fit even less well in this context.




Your understanding is basically correct, but perhaps 向こう can more loosely be
interpreted as “across” or “beyond” as opposed to necessarily “opposite”. That
is to say, as long as the garden is between you and the sun to some extent,
向こう is understandable. If the sun is positioned entirely behind you when you
are facing the garden then it’s unusable.




Your understanding is basically correct, but perhaps 向こう can more loosely be
interpreted as “across” or “beyond” as opposed to necessarily “opposite”. That
is to say, as long as the garden is between you and the sun to some extent,
向こう is understandable. If the sun is positioned entirely behind you when you
are facing the garden then it’s unusable.

