country, rural, village
鄕 centers on a settled place away from the city: a country village, a rural hometown, or the broader countryside.
鄕 is the older traditional form of 郷. It combines 乡 (a phonetic element) with 皀 (a food vessel) and ⻏ (a village or place), suggesting a place where people share food and community—a village or hometown.
The left 乡 looks like two small paths, the middle 皀 resembles a container of shared food, and the right ⻏ is a village. Picture a rural village where paths lead to a communal meal.
For キョウ, imagine a Kyoto-like countryside village: Kyoto -> キョウ, and the village is a quiet rural place like old Kyoto.