In Lang Son province, in northern Vietnam on the Chinese border, a farmer who introduced the medicinal plant gardenia (Vietnamese name danh danh; the crude-drug names are shishi and sanshishi) in a form where "once planted, you can harvest for about 10 years" is drawing attention. In this case, Loc Van Hoat, a farmer in Quoc Viet village, crossed into neighboring China in 2025, brought back cultivation techniques, and set up a garden of over 5,000 trees on 4 hectares. Sanshishi is a crude drug used in Japanese Kampo prescriptions and at the same time a natural coloring, used as "gardenia yellow" to dye wagashi and pickles. For those in Japan handling crude drugs and food ingredients, this mountain-village model can be a candidate for diversifying sourcing that has leaned on a single pole, China. In the same province, Lang Son's sa nhan (amomum) origin that earns from the spice without felling the forest has also started moving, and a trend of mountain medicinal plants being reorganized into export crops has come into view.
A mountain-village farmer who brought home the "golden hill" he saw in China
In 2025, Mr. Hoat crossed into China, where cultivation of medicinal plants for Chinese herbal medicine is expanding rapidly, and learned techniques on site. What he saw, he says, was a hilly district filled with gardenia ripened to a golden color. After returning home, he used the slopes of his own high-elevation village to plant over 5,000 trees at spacings of 2 by 2 meters on flat ground and 2.5 by 2.5 meters on slopes.
Seedlings cost 30,000 VND each (about 180 yen). For the launch, a partner on the Chinese side takes on seedling supply, cultivation guidance, and even full purchase of the harvest. As an origin it is still in the startup period, but what differs from other new medicinal crops is that the outlet is secured from the start. From the third year, well-grown branches can be diverted to cuttings so seedlings are self-sufficient, a design that compresses seedling costs in later years.
A revenue design that bears from the third year, with old trees sold right down to the roots
Once gardenia enters its third year from planting, yields stabilize, and 7-9 kilograms of fruit per tree can be harvested a year. The purchase price for fresh fruit is 37,000-40,000 VND per kilogram (about 222-240 yen). If 5,000 trees come into full operation, the fruit alone reaches a scale of tens of tonnes a year, and the farmer side says it expects annual revenue of "several billion VND (in the several-million to just-over-ten-million yen range)." This total is the origin's own estimate, and actual earnings are not a fixed figure because they swing with tree growth and the market.
What makes this model "distinctive" is that there is one more layer of income after the 10-year fruit-harvest cycle ends. Aged plants are dug up whole, roots and stems, and sold as crude drugs to Chinese-medicine pharmacies. In a scheme where not only the fruit but the tree body itself becomes a lump of cash at the end, the idea of not letting a perennial medicinal tree become a "planted-and-forgotten idle asset" is built in.
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Crop | Gardenia (danh danh / crude-drug names shishi, sanshishi) |
| Origin / producer | Loc Van Hoat, Quoc Viet village, Lang Son province |
| Planted area / number of trees | 4 hectares / over 5,000 trees |
| Planting spacing | Flat ground 2x2 m / slopes 2.5x2.5 m |
| Seedling unit price | 30,000 VND/tree (about 180 yen) |
| Yield | From the third year on, 7-9 kg/tree per year (fruit) |
| Fresh-fruit purchase price | 37,000-40,000 VND/kg (about 222-240 yen) |
| Harvest cycle | Fruit about 10 years + after felling, roots and stems sold as crude drugs |
* Yen conversion calculated at 10,000 VND = about 60 yen. A rough guide given market fluctuations.
Maize and peanuts between the rows: intercropping to get by in the early years
A perennial medicinal tree takes several years before fruit can be harvested in quantity. How that blank period is filled becomes the dividing line for whether an origin takes root. Mr. Hoat inserts short-cycle crops such as maize and peanuts between the rows of gardenia, securing early cash income while also serving to retain soil moisture and suppress weeds.
This is the same idea as the move to shift medicinal resources that have relied on wild harvesting over to planned cultivation. In various parts of Vietnam, Quang Ninh province turning the medicinal root 'dia lien,' whose wild harvesting has hit its limit, into a cultivated origin as it does, the supply of medicinal plants is switching from the stage of gathering from the mountains to the stage of growing in fields. The method of growing the main medicinal tree while spreading risk through intercropping becomes a realistic entry point for the small-scale farmers who carry this transition.
Why it matters for Japanese procurement: the dual demand of crude drugs and food coloring
The significance sanshishi holds in the Japanese market lies in its use spreading in two directions. First, demand as a Kampo crude drug. Sanshishi is used in formulations for the traditional purposes of clearing heat, promoting bile and supporting the liver, and contains iridoid glycosides such as geniposide. About 80% of the raw crude drugs used in Japan are of Chinese origin, with one estimate putting it at 83% as of fiscal 2020. It is a field where prices have risen on rising domestic demand in China and overharvesting, and where concern over stable supply has been pointed out.
Second, demand as a natural coloring. Crocin contained in gardenia fruit is a water-soluble yellow pigment and has been used as "gardenia yellow" to color foods such as kinton and takuan. Because a single raw material has two separate outlets, a crude drug and a food additive, even if the market for one collapses, it can be sold through the other. Price support works more easily than for a single-use crop.
Third, a catch basin for diversifying sourcing is its positioning. Domestic production is not easy because the climate and land conditions do not match, and while efforts to support domestic production by pairing full purchase with cultivation guidance, as Yubari Tsumura does, continue, the risk of dependence on China alone remains. The Lang Son origin, connected to China by land with a short logistics distance, becomes a candidate for adding one more supplier while holding cultivation conditions equivalent to China's.
Points to work out because the origin is young
On the other hand, for Japanese buyers to evaluate this origin, they need to look calmly at the weaknesses specific to the startup period. The practical points come down to the following three.
- The purchase guarantee is held by the partner on the Chinese side. With the outlet fixed to China, unless a separate route for Japan is designed, the raw material tends to flow across the border.
- The origin is new, starting up in 2025, and the buildout of the pesticide-residue standards, quality specifications and traceability required for crude drugs and food ingredients is still ahead. A process of aligning to the level of Japan's import quarantine and food hygiene is needed.
- The components and grades required for coloring use and for crude-drug use differ. The crocin content and the precision of drying and sorting are evaluated by use, so the same fruit fetches a different price depending on the destination.
The location on the Chinese border has both sides: the advantage of logistical proximity and the weakness that demand is easily drawn to the Chinese side. Beyond medicinal plants, Lang Son province has also elevated macadamia to a strategic export crop- as in that flow, where an origin opens its export destinations changes its character. If Japanese players can get involved in standard-setting and contract farming at an early stage, there is room to pull one of the outlets toward the Japanese side.
Basic information on sanshishi (crude-drug and food uses)
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Plant name | Gardenia (Gardenia jasminoides, family Rubiaceae) |
| Vietnamese name / crude-drug name | danh danh (chi tu) / shishi, sanshishi |
| Medicinal part | Mainly the fruit, also leaves and roots |
| Main components | Iridoid glycosides (geniposide, etc.), the yellow pigment crocin |
| Crude-drug use | A raw material in Kampo prescriptions for purposes such as clearing heat, promoting bile and supporting the liver |
| Food use | Gardenia yellow (coloring of kinton, takuan, etc.) |
| Flowering / fruiting season | Flowers around March-May, fruit around June-October |
Summary: tracking "perennial medicinal crops that aren't planted and forgotten"
The case of Quoc Viet village, Lang Son province, showed in concrete numbers a way of earning from a perennial medicinal crop: once planted, you harvest fruit for about 10 years and in the end channel even the roots into crude drugs. The unit prices of 7-9 kilograms per tree a year and 37,000-40,000 VND per kilogram of fresh fruit become measured values for an origin-formation model that holds up even on the slopes of a mountain village. What those handling Japanese procurement of crude drugs and natural colorings should first confirm is whether this origin's outlet stays fixed to China or opens toward contract farming and standards compliance for Japan. Since origin-building of medicinal plants is occurring all at once within the same Lang Son province, which item the next supply candidate will rise from will show signs if you follow local origin news. The first things to confirm are who holds the purchase guarantee and the status of quality-specification buildout.
Sources
- Trồng một lần mà thu hoạch suốt 10 năm, mô hình độc lạ này đang giúp anh nông dân Lạng Sơn có kinh tế khấm khá（Dân Việt）
- Sang tận Trung Quốc tầm sư, một người Lạng Sơn mang cây cho ra quả vàng ươm về trồng（Dân Việt）
- Kampo raw materials run short; 80% dependence on China, the road to domestic production steep (Nikkei)
- Sanshishi: Treasure Chest of Crude Drugs (Uchida Wakanyaku)
