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.
Yawata no Yabushirazu is a bamboo grove in Ichikawa City, Chiba Prefecture, with a legend that once you enter, you cannot get out.
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.
This problem is like an inescapable maze.
In old texts, confusing places are sometimes likened to 'Yawata no Yabushirazu'.
Standard kanji spelling for this place name and expression.
Rarely used kanji form.
The expression originates from the name of a real bamboo grove in Chiba Prefecture, 八幡 (Yawata) + 藪 (thicket) + 知らず (not knowing), literally 'the thicket of Yawata that one cannot know (the way out of)'. The historical derivation beyond the literal components is uncertain.