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6 app. Autumn 2018Records indicate that in 611, the Empress Suiko organized a hunt in Uda for medicinal herbs.Scroll listing 60 types of crude drugs gifted by the Empress Komyo in 765 to the Todaiji temple, Nara.Courtesy Shosoin Repository, Imperial Household AgencyTraditionally, many Buddhist temples used medicinal plants to treat illnesses and, together with Buddhism, this medical knowledge was conveyed to Japan from China via the Silk Road around the sixth century. The Engishiki, an ancient compendium of rules and pro-cedures (927) mentions 38 medicinal plants grown in the Nara area which eventually became widely known and available to the public. Until the early 1700s, most medicinal plants were imported from China, but were very expensive. The eighth Tokugawa shogun Yoshimune (1684-1751) ordered that a mission be organized by government retainer Saheiji Uemura to identify such plants throughout the Nara area. Tosuke Morino, an herbal cultivator, accompanied Uemura on this mission, and was later presented with valu-able herbs. Tosuke Morino’s efforts to nurture plants and disseminate cultivation know-how to local people led to this region becoming known for its medicinal plant cultivation. Even today, medicinal plant whole-salers in Nara provide seeds and seedlings to farmers throughout Japan, along with cultivation support.The History of Kampo Medicine