Witnessed by: TCM
Japanese pepper, sansho (Zanthoxylum piperitum), of the Rutaceae family. Small thorny deciduous shrub with paired spines at the nodes and aromatic pinnate leaves; native range: Japan, Korea and parts of northeastern China, in hill scrub and woodland margins; long cultivated. Globally recognized as sanshō (山椒) in Japanese, shan jiao (山椒) in Chinese, chopi in Korean, and Japanese pepper, Japanese prickly ash in English. The part used is the ripe pericarp (the husk of the fruit, the black seed discarded). Small reddish-brown husks split into two valves, warty and oil-pitted; strongly citrus-aromatic when crushed, the taste pungent and warming, then leaving the tongue numb and distinctly tingling.
In this cross-tradition database, we analyze how this substance operates across world medicine systems — tracking its traditional tastes, temperatures, tissue affinities, post-digestive effects, and planetary correspondences across Ayurveda, Unani, and Western herbalism.
JAPANESE PEPPER
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- Japanese pepper, sansho
- Scientific name
- Zanthoxylum piperitum (L.) DC.
- Family
- Rutaceae
Form
- Part used
- the ripe pericarp (the husk of the fruit, the black seed discarded)
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- TCM
- pungent (aromatic, leaving the tongue numb)
Temperature
- TCM
- hot
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- TCM
- Spleen · Stomach · Kidney
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- TCM
- warms the middle burner and disperses cold, relieves pain and stops cramping, kills parasites, and moves a cold stagnation downward
Cautions
- Contraindications
- yin deficiency with heat signs, and hot conditions generally; caution in pregnancy
- Toxicity
- low at culinary and medicinal doses; large doses irritate and the seed is not used
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