Mabi is an area in the northwestern part of Kurashiki City, stretching along the Oda River.
The place is named after the Nara-period scholar Kibi no Makibi, and its long history is reflected in sites such as Yata Otsuka Burial Mound, which has one of the largest burial chambers in Japan. It is also the town where author Seishi Yokomizo, creator of the famous detective Kosuke Kindaichi, evacuated during the war; his evacuation home still stands today. Mabi is also known as a bamboo-producing area, and bamboo shoots come into season in spring.
During the July 2018 torrential rains in western Japan, levees along the Oda River and other waterways burst, flooding a wide area of the town and causing extensive damage.
