八や幡わたの藪やぶ知しらず

expression, noun

Yawata no Yabushirazu; bamboo grove in Chiba; legendary inescapable thicket

Proper noun referring to a specific bamboo grove in Chiba Prefecture, famous in folklore as a place from which one cannot find a way out.

• 八や幡わたの藪やぶ知しらずは、千ち葉ば県けん市いち川かわ市しにある竹ちく林りんで、一いち度ど入はいると出でられないという伝でん説せつがある。

  Yawata no Yabushirazu is a bamboo grove in Ichikawa City, Chiba Prefecture, with a legend that once you enter, you cannot get out.

expression, noun

inescapable thicket; maze; getting lost; unable to find a way out

Rare figurative use derived from the place name, describing any confusing, maze-like situation or thicket from which escape is difficult. Sense 3 (getting lost) is closely related and merged here.

• この問もん題だいはまるで八や幡わたの藪やぶ知しらずだ。

  This problem is like an inescapable maze.

• 古ふるい文ぶん献けんでは、迷まよいやすい場ば所しょを「八や幡わたの藪やぶ知しらず」と例たとえることがある。

  In old texts, confusing places are sometimes likened to 'Yawata no Yabushirazu'.