[Simejigahara, a place noted for moxa]

Shimejigahara is a place-name often used in old Waka (Japanese poems). It was reputed in the past to be a site rich in the plants moxa and mugwort. A study of this placed carried out. Shimejigahara, as mentioned in the literature of the Heian to Kamakura eras, seems to have been located at the site of the current Tochigi City. During the Edo era, however, Senjogahara in Nikko came to be referred to as Shimejigahara. In addition, some other places in what is now called Utsunomiya City, on Ibuki Mountain in Shiga Prefecture, and in Chiba City were referred to as Shimejigahara during the Edo era. When the types of wild mugwort seen in these various sites called "Shimejigahara" were searched for, Artemisia princeps P. was found in the cities of Tochigi, Utsunomiya and Chiba, while A. montana P. was seen in Senjogahara and on Ibuki Mountain. Papers published during the Edo era suggest that moxa, gathered in the Shimejigahara, was on the market during that period. It is, however, doubtful that the moxa produced from Shimejigahara was really commercialized, like the well-known "Ibuki moxa."