ぶどう

Pattern visualization

Examples

1. ぶどうが好きです。▶ —
   I like grapes.
2. 山梨県はぶどうの産地です。▶ —
   Yamanashi is grape country.

Collocations

Mnemonic

Budou (ぶどう·葡萄) is the Japanese word for grape. The kanji 葡萄 likely traces to ancient Persian budawa — transmitted via the Silk Road in Han China, reaching Japan in the medieval period. Top producer: Yamanashi Prefecture (north flank of Mount Fuji), with winemaking taking off in the Meiji 1870s. Kyohou (巨峰, bred 1937) — the large black variety — is a Japanese invention later re-exported to Korea and China. Shine Muscat (シャインマスカット, registered 2006 by the agriculture ministry) is a Japanese-bred cultivar whose unlicensed cultivation in Korea and China prompted Japan to strengthen its seed-protection law in 2022. Wine market: "nihon-wain" (Japan wine, defined in 2018 as 100% domestic grapes) became a legal label. Each language picks a different etymology — pútáo (Chinese, Persian loan), poh-doh (Korean), grape (English from Old French "hook").

Quick check

1. Origin of the Kyohou (巨峰) grape variety?

   • Japanese 1937 invention, later re-exported to Korea and China
   • Chinese Tang-era invention
   • Korean 1980s invention
   • French varietal