[3][4][5][6][7] Sasa is a genus of relatively short and shrub-like bamboos that may vigorously spread to form dense, often extensive stands.

The rhizomes of Sasa species are leptomorph (or spreading), with long, running and much branched underground roots.

[8] The genus Sasa was first formally described by the Japanese botanists Tomitaro Makito and Keita Shibata, when it published in Botanical Magazine in 1901.

[1][8][12] The genus Sasa is native to Asia, with the native distribution of the genus extending from Sakhalin and the Kuril islands of Russia to the north, southwards through Japan and Korea,[13] and across the southeast region of China including Guangxi, Guangdong,[14] Hong Kong,[15] and Hainan.

[5][7][29][30] In contrast, zasa or sasa (笹 / ササ) meaning 'bamboo grass' is used to refer to short growing species.

Sasazushi (笹寿司), also known as bamboo leaf sushi, is a speciality from the Hokuriku region of Japan, in particular Niigata and the cites of Jōetsu, Itoigawa and Myōkō.

Sasazushi is made by placing rice (seasoned with vinegar, sugar and salt) onto a Sasa bamboo leaf (known as kumazasa or kuma) that grows wild in the region before being topped with a selection of ingredients and condiments.

Not only is the bamboo leaf a local, wild plant, other types of sansai (or foraged wild vegetables) are frequently used as toppings, such as Japanese butterbur (fukinoto), fiddleheads of bracken fern (warabi), and other types of fern including zenmai and kogomi.

Chimaki usually consist of a mixture of glutinous rice and other ingredients which are carefully wrapped in a Sasa bamboo leaf and usually tied with rushes before steaming.

[41] Chimaki are particularly associated with Akita, Niigata, Yamagata, and the Aizu region of Fukushima Prefecture, with unique local variations.

[25] Sasa palmata has been shown to be comparable or superior to rice straw as a component of roughage fed to Hanwoo cattle, a Korean native breed.

[57] Other than the UK, Sasa species (chiefly S. palmata and S. veitchii) have been recorded as having been introduced into Czechoslovakia (Czech Republic and/or Slovakia), France, Ireland, and New Zealand.