麻布

Noun

 * 1) linen cloth; hemp cloth

Etymology 1
Compound of elements.

Noun

 * 1) cloth woven of hemp or ramie, similar to linen

Usage notes
This appears to be the most common term for hempen cloth.

Etymology 2
Compound of. This uses the on'yomi of fu for, deriving from ; compare modern 🇨🇬 reading bù.

Noun

 * 1)  cloth woven of hemp or ramie, similar to linen

Usage notes
This term appears to be used in modern Japanese. It is not included in the Shinmeikai monolingual Japanese dictionary, nor in the Daijirin monolingual Japanese dictionary.

Etymology 3
Most likely a compound of 🇨🇬 elements, given that the Azabu area was known in ancient times as a place for growing hemp or ramie.

This fu element also appears in terms such as  and,. The use of to spell the fu portion would be an example of ateji, probably influenced by the way that hemp is used to make cloth.

The reasons for the shift in pronunciation from asafu to azabu remain unclear.

Proper noun

 * 1) Azabu, an area in Minato ward, Tokyo

Adjective

 * 1)  of unknown intent
 * This usage developed from the idiom. See Idioms below for details.
 * 1) * 何事も麻布にて、様々どうらくをなし給ふ
 * なにごともあざぶにて、さまざまどうらくをなしたまふ
 * Nanigoto mo azabu ni te, samazama dōraku o nashitamau...
 * Everything of [his] real intentions is unknown, and [he] amuses himself with various diversions...

Idioms

 * : “you can't figure out the feeling [intent] in Azabu” → based on a pun on the phrase “you can't figure out [identify] the trees in Azabu”, substituting for, appearing in print in 1763. This derives from the way that the Azabu area includes the Roppongi neighborhood. Although Roppongi is spelled as , there have not been any trees in the area that would match this description for quite some time.

Etymology 4
From compound. Compare modern 🇨🇬 reading mábù.

Noun

 * 1)  cloth woven of hemp or ramie, similar to linen

Usage notes
This term appears to be less commonly used. It is not included in the Shinmeikai monolingual Japanese dictionary.