stack of rice straw; rice-straw rick
Refers to a traditional conical or cylindrical stack of harvested rice straw, commonly seen in rural Japan after the rice harvest.
In the autumn rice fields, several stacks of rice straw stood.
In the past, rice-straw stacks were used for thatching roofs.
Common mixed kanji-kana spelling; the kana むら is often used instead of the rare kanji 叢.
Full kanji spelling using the uncommon character 叢; rarely used in modern writing.
Compound of 稲 (いね, 'rice plant') and むら, an old word meaning 'heap' or 'cluster', related to 群れ (むれ, 'group'). The kanji 叢 is an ateji for むら.