More information (to have) pins and needles; tingling; hemp(to have) pins and needles; tingling; hemp; numb; to bother, to declare; to announce; to spreadto declare; to announce; to spread; to make known; spread; (cotton) cloth ...
(to have) pins and needles; tingling; hemp
(to have) pins and needles; tingling; hemp; numb; to bother
to declare; to announce; to spread
to declare; to announce; to spread; to make known; spread; (cotton) cloth
Compound of 麻(asa, “hemp, ramie”) +布(fu, “woven cloth”).[1] This uses the on'yomi of fu for 布, deriving from Middle Chinese布(puH); compare modern Mandarin reading bù.
This term appears to be used in modern Japanese. It is not included in the Shinmeikai monolingual Japanese dictionary,[3] nor in the Daijirin monolingual Japanese dictionary.[2]
Most likely a compound of Old Japanese elements 麻(asa, “hemp, ramie”) +生(fu, “place where things grow”), given that the Azabu area was known in ancient times as a place for growing hemp or ramie.[1]
This fu element also appears in terms such as 粟生(awafu, “a field for growing millet”)[1][2] and 豆生, 豆田(mamefu, “a field for growing beans”).[1] The use of 布 to spell the fu portion would be an example of ateji, probably influenced by the way that hemp is used to make cloth (布).
The reasons for the shift in pronunciation from asafu to azabu remain unclear.
Nanigoto mo azabu ni te, samazama dōraku o nashitamau...
Everything of [his] real intentions is unknown, and [he] amuses himself with various diversions...
Idioms
麻布で気が知れぬ(azabu de ki ga shirenu): “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 気(ki, “sense, intent, feeling”) for 木(ki, “tree”), appearing in print in 1763. This derives from the way that the Azabu area includes the Roppongi neighborhood. Although Roppongi is spelled as 六本木(“six trees”), there have not been any trees in the area that would match this description for quite some time.[1][2]