Straw; dried stalks of grain used for roofing, bedding for animals, packing, etc.
昔の家は藁ぶき屋根が多かった。
Old houses often had thatched (straw) roofs.
庭の藁を集めて堆肥にした。
I gathered the straw in the garden and turned it into compost.
藁にもすがる思いで彼に助けを求めた。
In desperation I clung to him as if to straw (an idiom meaning 'grasping at a last hope').