Only with reading やぶ
Refers to a dense growth of shrubs, bushes, or small trees; often implies a wild, tangled area.
庭の隅に藪ができてしまった。
A thicket has grown in the corner of the garden.
猫が藪の中から出てきた。
A cat came out of the bushes.
Abbreviation of 藪医者 (やぶいしゃ), meaning an incompetent or unskilled doctor. Usually written in kana. Often used humorously or derogatorily.
See also: やぶ医者 (やぶいしゃ)
I pushed through the thicket and made my way along the mountain path.
That doctor is said to be a quack.
やぶに診てもらうと、かえって悪くなる。
If you get treated by a quack, you'll get worse instead.
あんな藪にかかったら治るどころか悪化するよ。
If you go to a quack like that, you'll get worse instead of better.
The cat is hiding in the bushes and won't come out.
藪医者 is the full word meaning 'quack doctor', and 藪 is its common abbreviated form with the same meaning.
藪 means a thicket or bush in general without implying thorns, whereas 棘（おどろ）specifically evokes a tangle of thorny briars.
名医 means a highly skilled, respected doctor, the opposite of 藪 used to mean an incompetent 'quack' doctor.
Used when counting locations or spots of thickets, not the plants themselves.
bamboo grass thicket
quack doctor; incompetent physician
woven straw mat for snow protection
Japanese camellia; common camellia
bush dog
big blue lilyturf; liriope; monkey grass
Japanese hedge parsley; erect hedge parsley
Asian stubtail
Yabunouchi school of tea ceremony
Standard kanji spelling for thicket/bush.
Kana spelling is common, especially in everyday writing.
Katakana spelling sometimes used for emphasis or in informal contexts.
Variant kanji form; less common but still encountered.
The kanji 藪 is a phono-semantic compound; the exact historical derivation is uncertain. The 'quack' sense comes from the abbreviation of 藪医者, where 藪 may have originally implied 'bush-league' or 'unrefined'.
spearflower; Ardisia japonica