Speaking of pharmaceutical products, you may think of neatly packaged capsules and tablets. If you look back on human history, you will find that pharmaceutical products originated from medicinal plants, and medicinal plants have inspired many pharmaceutical medicines. Kampo medicine uses natural animals, plants and minerals as they are or simply processes them before use. Therefore, medicinal plants are very important in medical and pharmaceutical areas even today when modern medicines have been developed.

Many of the medicinal plants are pleasant to see as decorations. It will be interesting for you to find that the plants that you see in daily life have medical properties. The Medicinal Plant Garden at the Sakado Campus of Josai University still maintains the thickly wooded foothills (satoyama) that have existed since the foundation of the university at its westernmost point, having approximately 800 species of plants.

We at Josai University would like our students, teachers, graduates and community members to use the Medicinal Plant Garden as a sort of haven, enhancing the varieties of plants that are grown in Musashino.

For the outline of the Medicinal Plant Garden, refer to the university’s website ( http://www.josai.ac.jp/ ). The Medicinal Plant Garden at the Sakado Campus of Josai University will welcome you with its scenic beauty, with the Chichibu mountains in the west and the slowly running Komagawa River in the south.

月曜日～土曜日 9時30分～15時00分
日曜・祝日、大学の休暇期間（8月中旬、年末年始、創立記念日4月20日）、入学試験日は閉園

見学希望の場合は次のように手続きしてください。
・大学正門にある守衛室で薬草園見学の旨を申し出てください。
・本学学生および教職員以外の方、団体でのご利用は総務課にあらかじめお尋ねください。

・園内の植物には手をふれないでください。
・猛毒の薬草や研究試料がありますので、ご注意ください。

9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday to Saturday
(the greenhouses are open until 3:00 p.m. from March through November)
Closed on Sundays, national holidays, the university’s holidays (Middle of August, year-end and New Year, the anniversary of foundation of the university or April 20) and days of entrance examinations.

The following proceedings should be taken prior to visit.
・Tell the entrance gatehouse, at the main gate of the university, that you wish to visit the Medicinal Plant Garden.
・Ask the General Affairs Department in advance, if you are not a student/teacher of the university or if you would like to visit the Medicinal Plant Garden in a group.

・Do not touch the plants within the garden.
・Some plants and specimens for research are extremely poisonous.

本学薬用植物園は薬学部創設（1973年）と同時に当時の文部省の大学設置基準にのっとり、『薬学教育の基礎として学生に供覧すると共に，研究材料の栽培ならびに特に重要な薬用植物の試験栽培及び保存、地域社会の教育活動への協力』を設立趣旨として設置されました。その後、温室を設置し、さらに圃場の増設をしながら整備を図り、植物種は約800種を数えるほどになりました。2015年、本学創立50周年を記念した新薬学棟の建設に伴い、場所を大学近郊東側の下川原に移し、低屋温室、高屋温室の2つの温室、並びに新管理棟の建設を行い、2つの栽培園場を含め、総面積は約6,000㎡となりました。
また、最近では絶滅危惧植物であり、埼玉県では坂戸市入西（白花）と秩父（淡紫色花）の2ヶ所しか確認されていないという埼玉県指定の天然記念物でもあるステゴビル(ユリ科)の保存栽培を行っています。本学薬用植物園はとても恵まれた自然環境にありますので、今後は、社会活動を一層、盛んにし、多くの人々に自然環境や植物に関心を持ってもらうよう、講演会の開催、学内や高麗川遊歩道での植物観察会などを行い、地域文化の発展に寄与したいものと考えています。

The Medicinal Plant Garden of Josai University was founded under the Standards for Establishment of Universities from the former Education Ministry when the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences was assembled in 1973.The aim of the foundation was that the Medicinal Plant Garden should provide its availability to students as the basis of pharmaceutical education, cultural research materials, cultivate and preserve to especially important medicinal plants and cooperate in community educational activities. Then the greenhouses were built and the agricultural fields were expanded. As a result of the arrangement, the number of plant species reached about 800. In 2015, when a new building was constructed for the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences to celebrate the 50th anniversary of foundation of the university, the Medicinal Plant Garden was moved to Shimokawara, an area to the east, near the university. Two greenhouses (a tall building and a low building) and a new administration building were built. The total area is now 6000 square meters, including two agricultural fields.
Recently, the Medicinal Plant Garden preserves and grows Caloscordum inutile, an endangered species of the lily family that has been designated as a natural monument by Saitama. The plant has only been identified in two locations: Nissai, Sakado (white flower) and Chichibu (heliotrope flower) in Saitama prefecture. Being located in such a rich natural environment, we at the Medicinal Plant Garden of Josai University would like to contribute to the development of the community by further encouraging social activities, and holding lecture meetings and plant-watching sessions within the university and the walking trails along the Komagawa River, so that more people will be interested in the natural environment and plants.