Herbal Legends: He Shou Wu 何首烏 Pt.2

The emperor Hanwu was very ambitious to expand the Chinese Kingdom and to unify it. He employed martial as well as diplomatic strategies to achieve his goal. The present-day province of Sichuan did not yet belong to the empire, thus in order to win it over, he sent his officer Sima Xiangru as diplomat into its capital Chengdu. To be the diplomat of the Chinese emperor was an honourable but difficult position. Sima Xiangru served well and enjoyed the appreciation of the emperor. He also felt at home in Chengdu and even had an love affair with one of the daughters of a rich and reputable local merchant. However, despite all the efforts required buy his life and his post, he encountered a problem that caused him a lot of grief. Although quite young in years, he already had white hair and resembled more a fifty- or sixty-year old. When the emperor heard of his suffering, he consoled him and said:

“Don’t feel ashamed because of it. I have a court physician, who is able to cure all sorts of difficult ailments.
In a short period of time he will turn all your white hair black again.It is just a trifling matter.”

Thus, the emperor ordered his court physician to pay a visit to Sima Xiangru’s palace, who was surprised when he saw the physician, for he had a youthful face, but snow-white hair. In fact, his head hair was even whiter than his own. The doctor could read Sima Xiangru’s doubts from his facial expression and explained:

“The white hair is left intentionally, since people have more trust in an old doctor. They reckon the older the doctor, the more experience he has. I am only forty-eight years old. Sima Xiangru poised himself and uttered:

“What you say is not illogical, but how could you convince me that a white haired doctor can turn the hair of a patient black again. “

The physician the briefly remarked:

In that case, I will return another day and treat you.”

And he disappeared. When he visited Sima Xiangru for the second time, the latter was astonished once again. This time the doctor appeared with pitch-black hair! Sima Xiangru asked him what wondrous remedy he had taken to such an effect. The physician responded:

“I also do not know its name. The only thing I know is that
it is prepared with several other herbs and has the ability to blacken hair.”

While stating this, he revealed a red-brown, spindle-shaped and furrowed root from his pocket and show it to Sima Xiangru, who inspected it for a while and pointed out:

“Since its function is to blacken hair, it shall be named Black Head. “

The court physician pondered for a moment and agreed:

“Yes, very suitable indeed,its name is now Black Head.”

Sima Xiangru blinked his eyes a few times and said to the court physician:

“The first name is chosen, now we need a family name.
Since your family name is He, I would like to suggest, that we name the plant He-Black-Head [he shou wu 何首乌].’”

The court physician waved his hands in refusal:

“That is too much of an honour!”

However, Sima Xiangru was adamans and mentioned:

“You have discovered the remedy and therefore, it should be named after you!”
.
Shortly thereafter Sima Xiangru also displayed pitch-black hair and enjoyed his life.

Annotation:
Interestingly alternate names of He Shou Wu [何首乌] are :

Ye Jiao Teng [夜交藤] “Nightly Pairing Vine”
Ye He [夜合] “Night Unification”
[these two are a different part.i.e. the vine, not the root]
[see previous Herbal Legend]
Di Jing [地精] Earthly Essence