Aromatic and medicinal plants fill a significant role in human societies that have helped improve the lives of people since ancient times. Ancient people became aware of the value and attractiveness of aromatic and medicinal plants, and the significance of historical books is a guide for the use of the plant material. Initial books on use on medicinal and aromatic plants were sourced in various parts of the world, such as the Middle East, Greece, China, and India, indicating that these ancient civilizations used indigenous aromatic and medicinal plants to improve lives in their own separate ways before ideas were shared. Japan is no exception; names of some local aromatic and medicinal plants were recorded in the oldest Japanese history book “Kojiki” written in 712 A.D. Aromatic and medicinal plants, however, continue to influence human life, culture, and history. Currently, an estimated 70,000 plant species are used in traditional medicine.
| Timeline | Book and author | Book about | Country |
| ~500–300 BC | Hippocratic corpus written by Hippocrates; De Causis Plantarumand Historia Plantarum written by Theophrastis | Formalized medicine practices in diagnosis and treatments; list of medicinal plants and application | Greek |
| ~150–100 BC | Huangdi Neijing (author unknown) | Theoretical foundation of Chinese medicine, diagnostic methods, and acupuncture | China |
| ~100 BC-100 AC | Celsus wrote De Medicina; Dioscorides wrote De Materia Medica | Alexandrian medicine; pharmacopoeia of herbs and the medicines | Greek |
| ~200–300 AC | Shennong Bencaojing (author unknown); Shanghan Lun written by Shang Zhongjing | Agriculture and medicinal plants; 113 herbal prescriptions and six stages of disease | China |
| ~750–800 AC | Lu Yu wrote The Classic of Tea | Tea tree, making tea, and tea ceremony | China |
| ~800–1000 AC | Avicenna writes Book of Healingand Canon of Medicine; Albucasis wrote Kitab al-Tasrif; Hildegard of Bingen wrote Ohysica; Averroes wrote Kulliyat | Clinical trials on medicines; Encyclopedia of medical practices; Scientific and medicinal properties of various plants; Medical encyclopedia | Arabic countries and Germany |
| ~1000–1500 AC | Ibn al-Baitar wrote Compendium on Simple Medicaments and Foods | Pharmacopoeia listing 1400 plants | Arabic countries |
| ~1500–1600 AC | John Gerard wrote Herball, or Generall Historie of Plantes | Heavily illustrated of 1000 plants | England |
| ~1900–2000 AC | René-Maurice Gattefossé wrote Aromathérapie | Aroma and essential oil for Medicine | France |
TABLE 1. Significant materials and books in history of medicinal plants and medicine
In Japan, most aromatic and medicinal plants have been used in the crude drug system, Kampo, the traditional Japanese medicine system, and in herbal tea as alternative or complemental medicines. The production value of Kampo was $1.38 billion, accounting for only two percent of all Japanese pharmaceuticals in 2011, and although a total of 83.5% of 684 medical doctors were using Kampo for their prescriptions, according to web survey by the Japan Kampo Medicines Manufacturers Association (JKMA) in 2008, the market for Kampo medicines increased by 23% over 5 years (2007–2011). In 2008, the usage of crude medicine for Kampo was 20,000 metric tons, of which a total of 83 percent was imported from China. Almost 250 kinds of crude (not processed) medicines are used as Kampo materials in 2008, and the top 20 are listed as example (Table 2).
| Ranking | Common name | Spices | Family | Parts used | usage (kg) |
| 1 | Licorice | Glycyrrhiza uralinsis | Leguminosae | Root | 1,267,395 |
| 2 | Chinese Peony | Paeonia lactiflora | Paeoniaceae | Root | 1,164,126 |
| 3 | Cinnamon | Cinnamomum cassia | Lauraceae | Bark | 1,033,793 |
| 4 | Indian bread, tuckahoe | Poria cocos | Polyporaceae | Fungus | 996,311 |
| 5 | Jujube | Ziziphus jujuba | Rhamnaceae | Fruit | 675,997 |
| 6 | Pinellia | Pinellia ternata | Araceae | Tuber | 629,063 |
| 7 | Oriental Ginseng | Panax ginseng | Araliaceae | Root | 610,092 |
| 8 | Angelica acutiloba | Angelica acutiloba | Apiaceae | Root | 580,607 |
| 9 | Ephedra | Ephedra sinica | Ephedraceae | Stem | 568,686 |
| 10 | glutinous starch syrup | Oryza sativa | Gramineae | Seed | 555,718 |
| 11 | Kudzu vine, Japanese arrowroot | Pueraria lobata | Papilionaceae | Root | 553,999 |
| 12 | Atractylodes lancea | Atractylodes lancea | Asteraceae | Rhizome | 501,647 |
| 13 | Job’s Tears | Coix lacryma-jobi | Gramineae | Seed | 449,253 |
| 14 | Sickle Hare’s Ear | Bupleurum falcatum | Umbelliferae | Root | 443,811 |
| 15 | Rhubarb | Rheum palmatum | Polygonaceae | Rhizome | 439,590 |
| 16 | Atractylodes | Atractylodes japonica | Asteraceae | Rhizome | 427,357 |
| 17 | Alexandrian Senna | Senna alexandrina | Caesalpiniaceae | Leaves, pods | 426,230 |
| 18 | Chinese foxglove | Rehmannia glutinosa | Scrophulariaceae | Root | 397,512 |
| 19 | Baikal skullcap | Scutellaria baicalensis | Labiatae | Root | 383,969 |
| 20 | Gypsum | 380,348 |
TABLE 2. Usage of top 20 crude medicines for Kampo in 2008.
Source:
Full article Link: https://www.intechopen.com/books/aromatic-and-medicinal-plants-back-to-nature/culture-history-and-applications-of-medicinal-and-aromatic-plants-in-japan
RESEARCH-ARTICLE
[1] Specified Nonprofit Corporation of Horticulture Therapy and Zen, Hamamatsu, Japan
[2] GREEN FLASK Inc., Tokyo, Japan
[3] University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USA
∗Corresponding author(s) email: den8mai@yhoo.co.jp
DOI: 10.5772/66505