Visit A Village Of Plant Medicine~Landrace And Rituals~

this is taken in a village surrounded by tea trees. it seemed to be lost in a world of another time era

Village of Traditional Medicine

Today, we will be in off-the-beaten track in Japan to Kasuga village on the foot of Mt. Ibuki. It is not a tourist place, and even not so known to Japanese people


Although Japan is a mountainous country covered with 67% of forest, about 70% of Japanese population is concentrating in the urban areas, and depopulation and aging in rural areas are always big problems. It is pity that tourists only look at big cities and do not see rural livelihood.

Japanese life-style has been changed a lot in recent years, but still, in the deep mountains, isolated from the rest of the world, you can find traditional livelihood and knowledge to live with nature handed down from generations. So, today, I would like you to touch another world of Japan besides tourist attractions.

shuraku, community of kasuga village

Can you imagine how to collect foods in the deep forest? Wisdom to read the voice of wind or trees, or to know timing of sowing seeds by observing stars or living creatures. This knowledge has been developed from long-term experiences of their ancestors. Mostly, they are over 80s, and it is about to disappear... I would like to pass down this local knowledge, what I call ground mothers knowledge to overseas as well as Japanese young people.


Kasuga was once known as a village of traditional medicine. The origin of offering yakuso in this region dates back to Nara period in the mid 7th century. There is a record to indicate traditional knowlede of plant medicine was transmitted through the descendant of royal family.


Now, most of the yakuso used in Japan are imported from china, and the industry of yakuso has been desolated. Still, the villagers grow yakuso continuously for their domestic use to maintain their health or to treat illness by themselves.