thicket, bush, underbrush, grove
藪 centers on dense, tangled plant growth: a thicket, bush, or underbrush. Grove is a natural extension, referring to a small, dense cluster of trees or shrubs.
藪 combines the grass radical 艹 with 數, which likely contributes the sound and may relate to the idea of numerous or dense growth. The exact historical development is uncertain.
The grass radical 艹 sits above 數, which suggests many things clustered together. Picture countless grass stalks and branches packed tightly into a dense thicket.
For ソウ, imagine a dense thicket so thick you can only see the outer edge: the whole tangled mass looks like a solid wall of green, and you think 'sow' (ソウ) as if the plants were sown together in a tangled mess.
thicket; bush; grove; scrub
Yawata no Yabushirazu (bamboo grove in Chiba; impossible to find one's way out of according to popular legend)
thicket of bamboo grass
bolt from the blue; unforeseen event; complete surprise
out of the blue; all of a sudden; without warning; unexpectedly
squint; cross-eyed
being a mystery (due to conflicting testimony); being unknown; in a grove
to stir up trouble for oneself; to scare out a snake by poking at the bush
pademelon; paddymelon
Yabunouchi school of tea ceremony
(medical) quack
woven mat tied around a plant to prevent damage from the weight of snow
bushkiller (species of herbaceous plant, Cayratia japonica)
spearflower (Ardisia japonica)
wild camellia (Camellia japonica); common camellia
wetland with abundant vegetation
hiking through dense vegetation; pushing one's way through a thicket; bushwhacking
bush dog (Speothos venaticus)
labyrinth; maze
Japanese cinnamon (Cinnamomum japonicum)