also: おおあさ
Refers to the hemp plant (Cannabis sativa) and its fiber, historically used for textiles and rope.
Hemp has been used as a fiber since ancient times.
Commonly refers to the psychoactive drug; 大麻取締法 (Cannabis Control Act) is a well-known legal term.
Possession of cannabis is prohibited by law in Japan.
Shinto paper offerings
Only with reading たいま
Read as たいま; refers to paper or cloth strips offered at Shinto shrines, often seen on sacred ropes (しめなわ).
Paper offerings are hung on the sacred rope at the shrine.
He was arrested for smoking cannabis.
The farmer cultivates hemp with official permission.
It was discovered that he had been in possession of cannabis.
A group that smuggled cannabis was arrested.
マリファナ is a casual loanword for marijuana, whereas 大麻 is the formal, legal term used in Japanese law and media.
麻 broadly means the hemp plant or its fiber, while 大麻 specifically refers to cannabis as a drug or its psychoactive use.
Standard kanji spelling for hemp/cannabis and Shinto paper offerings.
Alternate reading for hemp/cannabis, less common than たいま.
From Chinese 大麻 (dàmá), meaning 'hemp' or 'cannabis'. The reading たいま is the on'yomi, while おおあさ is a native Japanese reading. The Shinto offering sense is a specialized use of the same characters.