Kuromoji (Japanese Spicebush)
Kuromoji (Japanese Spicebush)
Lindera umbellata
“The tree of the wagashi pick”
| Species | Lindera umbellata |
|---|---|
| Family | Lauraceae |
| Part used | Twig and leaf |
| Aroma | Sweet and cool, from linalool and cineole |
What is kuromoji?
Kuromoji (Lindera umbellata) is a deciduous shrub in the laurel family, endemic to Japan and found from the Oshima peninsula of Hokkaido through parts of Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. Its essential oil is present in twig, leaf and bark alike; the leaf oil is led by linalool and cineole.
The name "kuromoji"
The pick served with wagashi is called a kuromoji because it was so often cut from this shrub. The Digital Daijisen dictionary defines kuromoji as “the pick served with sweets in the tea ceremony,” and the Nihon Kokugo Daijiten specifies the roughly 18 cm pick used at a tea gathering. A larger square-cut pick with the bark left on is used when sweets are formally served, and in Japan the word "kuromoji" came to stand for the pick itself. The dried twigs and leaves are called usho, and make up the largest share of the fourteen crude drugs in the tonic Yomeishu (it is not listed in the Japanese Pharmacopoeia). Nihon University's medicinal plant garden records it under the crude-drug name chosho-konpi, noting its use for digestive and skin complaints, and the chopped twigs and leaves are also said to have been put in a cloth bag and used in the bath.
The twigs and leaves are simmered and the liquid used as löyly water, or the branches are bundled and hung in the sauna room. It appears in herbal saunas in Japan as a domestic aromatic wood.
Brewed as kuromoji tea, and worked into picks and distilled for its essential oil.
Note: this page introduces the traditions and culture around the plant. It does not guarantee any effect.