The Morino physic garden is located at the western foot of Furushiroyama, where Akiyama Castle (Uda Matsuyama Castle) was located in the Sengoku and early Edo period. The gentle slope with a wide view receives plenty of sunlight, is a good location with good soil and drainage, and is located within the Morino family residence, which had been manufacturing Kudzu powder for generations. Morino Tosuke, the founder of the botanical garden, was born in 1690 and in 1729 became an apprentice for collecting medicinal plants to Uemura Saheiji, who was a medicinal herb supplier to the Tokugawa shogunate. Herbal plant collection took about four months, covering the various peaks of Yoshino, Mount Takami, and Mount Kongo. While gathering herbs, he discovered dogtooth violets, which prompted him to start producing katakuriko flour alongside producing kudzu starch. He continued gathering herbs thereafter, and his area of operation expanded from Kinki to Tokai and Hokuriku regions. During that time, he planted medicinal plant seeds provided by the shogunate in the mountains behind his house, which was the beginning of the botanical garden. This early modern botanical garden has retained its original form into the modern era. At present, approximately 250 varieties of medicinal plants are planted here.[2]
