[The transition of psychotropic drugs in Japanese Pharmacopoeia (JP) (Part 6): the knowledge and judgment about the sort as the medicine on valerianae radix].

It was thought that valerianae had circulated as the public drugs in Japan since the middle of Edo period and also thought the European valerianae was introduced for the first time in the late Edo period. Then, Japanese valerianae was widely used as the same effective drug as European valerianae in the Meiji period. By the beginning of the First World War, Japanese government encouraged the use of domestic drugs in Japan. As a result, Japanese valerianae was widely grown all over Japan and became the majority of the circulation on the market. Japanese valerianae contained more volatile oil than European valerianae. Therefore, Japanese valelrianae was exported mainly to Germany until the Second World War and was highly evaluated from all over the world. After the Second World War, Japanese valerianae lost its economical advantage and the production of Japanese valerianae declined. Now, Japanese valerianae was barely grown only in Hokkaido. The pharmaceutical action of Japanese valerianae is generous. So, it is thought that valerianae radix may be used for raw materials of general drugs in the future, too.