This remarkable mushroom has an ancient and venerable history in Chinese Medicine and also Chinese culture as a whole, it was first recorded in the premier book of Chinese Herbology the Shen Nong Ben Cao attributed to the legendary emperor of the Xia Dynasty Shen Nong - The spiritual farmer.
 
It is prized as a Shen tonic, that is a herb that helps calm the mind and expand the sphere of consciousness. It was so highly regarded, one of the Chinese emperors had its image embroided into his royal robes.
 
Reishi has been studied rigorously by scientists especially in Japan and modern science has confirme