Sword of the Stranger - The Battle Between Duty and Morality

Sword of The Stranger: The Battle Between Duty and Morality

An Anime Review - Bonus Content

Studio: Bones |  Released: 2007 |  Duration: 1hr 43 minutes | Streaming on: Crunchyroll

Hey Everyone!

If you found your way here from somewhere other than our Lazy Lion YouTube channel and you want to learn more about the Plot and Creative Process of the anime film Sword of the Stranger, as well as some of its characters and themes, then be sure to click on our video linked below. 
    

However, if you came for the real-life history about the quest for the Elixir of Life, then stick around because we’ll be delving into all the drama and lore over on our blog!

So, let’s get this expedition started! 

For as long as there’s been life there’s been death, so honestly it’s pretty natural that the idea of escaping death would eventually pop into the minds of us mere humans. And that is probably how the search, or for some, the obsession, for eternal life or immortality first began.

Let’s take it all the way back to, the oldest surviving record discovered to mention the concept of immortality. Over 4000 years ago (2100 BC) in Southern Mesopotamia, a fictional story was inscribed on a series of stone tablets. This story was the Epic of Gilgamesh. If you aren’t familiar with it, don’t worry, we got you. These ancient Sumerian tablets tell of the exploits of Gilgamesh, an ancient Hero-King of Mesopotamia (Uruk). On the 9th tablet, it recounts that while Gilgamesh grieves the death of a friend; he becomes faced with his own mortality and makes the decision to undertake a quest in search of eternal life. On his quest, he comes across a wise man who says that at the bottom of the sea, there grows a thorny sea plant or coral that when made into an elixir would grant him what he sought; Immortality. He embarked on this grand endeavour but like so many others ultimately failed and died of old age. 

That’s the oldest record but not the only one, the idea was actually widespread. It was very common in protohuman history around the world to think that if you ingested something you gained its powers and attributes; eating the flesh of enemy warriors, or eating large predators to gain their strength, or even tortoises for their longevity. Similarly, there was also a popular idea that drinking liquid metals would imbue you with the same hardness and strength and indestructibility or permanence.

It made complete sense to them to search for immortality in something to consume. If you look you’ll find countless legends about immortality, these are just a few.

In Ancient Greece, the gods attained immortality by feeding off of ambrosia, a nectar used by the gods to cure all ailments and rejuvenate and heal the body. The gods collected this nectar from a lush garden in the far western corner of the world 

Speaking of lush gardens, in the Old Testament part of the Bible, there is a reference to something similar. In God’s famous garden of Eden, there is of course the tree of knowledge that we always hear about, but what most people don’t know about is, that there’s also mention of a tree of life. Yeah, apparently after Adam and Eve ate the sacred apple, God went around warning other gods that humans have attained knowledge and to be on guard lest they also attain immortality, and become like them. Selfish (¬、¬) I thought sharing was caring.  

In ancient Egypt, the scribe god Thoth is said to have ingested liquid gold or “white drops” which granted him eternal life. 

Aborigines from Australia had tales of an elixir of immortality that also granted strength. Interestingly, Australian Aboriginals believed death was not natural, and it was something that was done to you like a spell or curse. 

In Zoroastrian (pre-Islamic Iran), they have a drink called Soma. In Vedic (evolved into Hinduism), it’s called Haoma. Both are made from the juices of a plant. 

In Hinduism, there is a milk called Amrita. Which was also referred to as a nectar, and was said to grant the gods their immortality. 

In China, there is a legend of a tree with peaches of immortality, maybe you saw it in Kung Fu Panda. They also have another legend about mushrooms of immortality. Nicknamed the “Mushroom of Immortality” in English, Ganoderma mushrooms are known as “reishi” in Japanese and as “lingzhi” in Chinese.

In Norse mythology, the gods ate golden apples to stay immortal. 

In Turkic mythology (Mongolia, Tibet and Ladakh), food of immortality and water of life are both mentioned; specifically in Mongolia it is referred to as möngke usu, which means “the water of everlasting life”. 

Are we seeing a pattern here? Immortality seems to be a state that is attainable through ingesting something. And whatever this “something” may be, it’s always reserved for only the gods. Sometimes their immortality even relies on the continued consumption of this said thing. So in theory, if humans were to get their hands on it then they too could become all-powerful and immortal. Essentially gods.  

In our Sword of the Stranger video, we briefly mentioned how we came across an Emperor who financed an entire expedition in search of this enticing elixir back in 210 BC. That Emperor was Emperor Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of Qin (which is modern-day China). He might be more familiar to you as the Emperor who “built” the Great Wall of China. Ya, that guy, anyway, Qin Shi Huang had a few names for different periods of his life, Zheng Ying, King Zheng, and Qin Shi Huang, and we’ll be using them all, but just know that it’s the same person. Now, we only gave you a quick little snippet in the video about this Emperor, but this guy has some great stories we just had to tell you about because they are too good not to.  

Now, how does the first Emperor of China become obsessed with finding the Elixir of Life? Well, way back before even becoming King, Zheng Ying’s own mother and her lover plotted a coup to have him assassinated and take the throne for themselves.  Family, am I right? (¯―¯٥). This first attempt on his life led to a life full of paranoia and fear. Not something we could blame him for, since if you caught that we said that was the “first attempt”. It really just gets crazier from here.   

There are two particularly notable occasions, we have got to share because they are too wild. The first one involves a childhood friend, Prince Dan of Yan, who developed a grudge and hired a hitman named Jing Ke to kill King Zheng. There was however one big hurdle in their way, which was that King Zheng was incredibly cautious by this point and had taken measures to ensure his security. So Jing Ke returned to Prince Dan with a suggestion about how they should infiltrate the King’s court. Recently one of King Zheng’s enemies, Fan Wuji, had sought sanctuary in Prince Dan’s home. So they decided that they would behead him and offer his head up to the King as a gift, along with a strategic map of the Yan territory. The plan was that as Jing Ke would be handing over the map, he would pull out a poisoned dagger hidden inside and kill the King. 

Well, it didn’t exactly go as planned, Jing Ke was enable to grab the dagger, and the King caught on to his intentions. As the King reached for his sword, Jing Ke panicked and latched onto the King’s sleeve, preventing him from doing so. The two struggled back and forth until the King’s sleeve finally ripped, allowing the King to break free.   

Court members were shocked by the scene, especially as they witnessed the King make a mad dash to hide himself behind a large pillar. And even more so as they saw Jing Ke, hot on his heels. 

They just kept on running around the pillar, like children playing a game of tag. Eventually, the King’s wizard ran towards them and threw his bag of medicines directly at Jing Ke’s face in order to distract him with a cloud of powders. (Old Wizard man came in clutch). Using this moment in his favour, the King finally gets his sword out and slashes Jing Ke across the thigh. As Jing Ke is falling to the ground, he makes one last ditch effort and throws the dagger at the King, hoping to hit him. Unfortunately for Jing Ke and Prince Dan, the dagger misses the King and ricochets off the pillar behind him. The King promptly has Jing Ke executed, but he’s furious after discovering that Prince Dan was behind the whole thing and wants revenge. To try and appease King Zheng, King Xi of Yan offers up his son, Prince Dan, to King Zheng for him to be executed, which is exactly what happens.

The story doesn’t end here though. Jing Ke had a very close friend named Gao Jianli, who was an amazing Zhu player. So amazing, in fact, that the King eventually summoned Gao to his court so that he could play for him. When he did, someone from the court recognized Gao Jianli and promptly told the King of his friendship with Jing Ke. The King was conflicted by this revelation since Gao played the zhu so phenomenally that it would be too sad to lose such talent. So instead, King Zheng had him blinded so that he could continue playing beautiful music for him, but would no longer be a threat. 

Now, Gao was clever and decided to play the long game. Every time he played for the King, he would inch his mat closer and closer until eventually, he was right next to him. After a while, the King got used to Gao’s presence and felt completely at ease having him near, which is exactly what Gao was waiting for. One day, he poured lead into his instrument, and when he was summoned to perform, he slid up next to the King and then… attempted to bludgeon him to death. Now, Gao is no Zatoichi, so he ends up missing, and the King is able to easily get away. Gao had been waiting to get revenge for his friend but only ended up meeting the same fate and being executed.

After all these assassination attempts, we think Qin Shi Huang had a pretty valid reason to be a little paranoid. And when you think about it, maybe it’s not so crazy that he was so obsessed with finding the elixir of immortality. Even though all the assassination attempts on him failed in the end, they still shook him to his core and only served to increase his desperation.

At one point, the Emperor even issued an order that all his subjects were to search for an elixir that would keep him alive forever. Amongst the pile of replies the Emperor received from his people, there was one that seemed genuinely promising, that reply came from the Langya region, and it claimed that they have a special herb that only grows on the side of a mountain which might be what he was looking for.   

Upon hearing of this report from Langya, the Emperor immediately set out on an “Inspection” trip. The official purpose of this tour was so that the Emperor could visit all the conquered regions and see for himself his newly united empire. Unofficially though it was so that the Emperor would have a reason to travel all the way to Langya, and confirm whether the information was true or not.  

While travelling through Langya, the Emperor is approached by a man claiming to be an alchemist by the name of Xu Fu. Not only did he claim to know the location of the three mystic islands of legend, said to be the home of the immortals, but he also claimed that he could help the Emperor achieve immortality. That’s a big promise, but apparently, Xu Fu was so charismatic that he was able to fully convince the Emperor that this impossible dream was in fact within reach. 

Fully believing in Xu Fu’s ability, the Emperor invested large sums of money into whatever Xu Fu needed. Be it boats, personnel, or lavish gifts for the immortals, everything was at his disposal. Once everything was ready Xu Fu left on his first expedition in 219 BC, starting his search for the Elixir of Immortality in the Gulf of Bohai.

Now, not one to put all his eggs in one basket, the Emperor wasn’t going to just sit still and wait around for Xu Fu to return - Oh no. He was determined to find any and all other methods for immortality that he could get his hands on. He summoned the best alchemists to his court and put them all to work on producing his Elixir of Immortality. These alchemists were willing to try anything from jade, to mercury, to cinnabar, they even used liquid gold, among many other varied substances to make a variety of tonics or pills. Which so far hadn’t worked, but the Emperor continued to ingest them hoping that eventually they’d take effect, all the while still looking at other avenues for immortality. 

As time passed, and with still no news from Xu Fu, the Emperor was beyond irritated. The older he got, the more desperate he became. Fearing he would soon run out of time. Whispers even began to circulate that the Emperor had been swindled, and wasted all these resources on a scam.

Infuriated by the idea that he had been conned by more than just one “alchemist/wizard” he decides to make an example of them. And in 212BC, when the Emperor’s patience had finally worn thin, he had 460 alchemists buried alive. He was recorded to have said, “They claimed to be sorcerers, so if they were telling the truth, they would have been able to save themselves.” [ SAVAGE XD] 

News of this must have reached Xu Fu, because he began to send reports back to the Emperor soon after, describing huge fish guardians of the sea who blocked their path, and about fiercely strong currents and winds that were keeping their boats from getting closer to the islands. Xu Fu even goes on about huge barriers of corals making it impossible to bring the boat to shore. 

Now, whether Xu Fu was genuinely committed to his expedition or he had simply run out of funds, Xu Fu finally returned to Qin - 9 YEARS LATER!  (Like snap, way to make him wait Xu Fu XD). It’s now 210 BC when Xu Fu gets back, and the Emperor is obviously pretty upset to see that he’s come back empty-handed, and demands to know why. 

In an attempt to save himself from execution, Xu Fu tells the Emperor that they had come face to face with the Dragon King of the Ocean who said that he would agree to give the Emperor the plant of eternal life as a gift if the Emperor sent back a tribute that was even more impressive. What’s more Xu Fu claims that the Dragon King personally showed him the herbs of Immortality in good faith. Now, at this point, Xu Fu is straight up exploiting the guy, because as soon as the Emperor hears this information he’s ready to start funding the next expedition, desperately eager for Xu Fu to successfully retrieve the plants of immortality. 

This time around, the tribute for the Dragon King of the Ocean consisted of five types of seeds/grains, as well as over 7,000 people, made up of esteemed craftsmen from various trades along with their tools and expensive good quality wares, a fleet of soldiers, sailors, and even archers equipped with crossbows in case they encountered the monstrous sea beasts again, and finally 3,000 virgin boys and 3,000 virgin girls from prominent families. We don’t know what the Emperor thought the Dragon King was supposed to do with all this, I mean, it sounds less like a tribute and more like a Civilization 101 starter kit to us. Technically, all we do know for sure is that Xu Fu left with the tribute, and he never returned.  

There are theories that they all died at sea, but there are also those who think that they may have in fact made landfall, and the question is where? Some theories claim they landed in either Taiwan, Jeju island of South Korea, the Kiyushu island of Japan, or perhaps even the Okinawa region of Japan. 

In the records of the Great Historian, Sima Qian, it states that Xu Fu travelled to a land of flat plains and wide swamps. Now, Okinawa prefecture actually has an area of wetlands very similar to this description, so it’s very plausible that’s where they landed. If you saw our video, you’ll know that we mentioned that there are legends in Japan that say Xu Fu landed somewhere on the Japanese archipelago and that he was basically hailed as a god of agriculture and medicine. That’s not a bad upgrade, I mean, would you leave after that?   

Meanwhile, back on Qin shores, the Emperor was anxiously awaiting Xu Fu’s return. On one such day, the Emperor had a prophetic dream about a water spirit that appeared as a huge fish before him and obstructed their path forward. Taking this as a sign, the Emperor marched up the shore until he finally spotted a large creature in the waves. Using his crossbow, he managed to kill the beast, which scholars suspect was actually just a whale. Content that he had done his part to ensure the success of Xu Fu’s mission, he finally decides to leave the beaches and return back to the palace. Now, according to some stories, the “Water God” became furious with the Emperor for killing one of his beasts and got his revenge - because not 3 days later, Emperor Qin Shi Huang was dead. As compelling as that story might be, today’s archeologists and historians lean more towards the theory that Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s body finally succumbed to Elixir poisoning after ingesting all those pills and tonics over the many years. 

Despite this, many emperors of ancient China continued to search for the elixir of life and then died due to elixir poisoning. It got so bad that by the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), alchemy was outlawed. This effort to curtail unnecessary deaths wouldn’t stop Emperors from doing whatever they wanted though. Enter Emperor Jiajing of the Ming dynasty. Some of you may have come to our blog specifically for this next story, you know the one about that Emperor who got the palace women so angry they tried to kill him. Ya, that’s this dude. lol 

So basically, it all started when Emperor Jiajing’s official court alchemist, Tao Zhongwen, decided to concoct an Elixir of Immortality by using a somewhat questionable ingredient. This ingredient was the menstrual blood of young virgin girls, which they referred to as Red Lead. In order to maintain a steady supply of this Red Lead, the palace collected young girls from around the nation, and then they would only feed them mulberry leaves and rainwater to keep them pure. Many of these girls would end up getting sick, only to then be thrown out of the palace.

This callous treatment of the young girls was witnessed by some of the Emperor’s consorts. The Emperor would punish his consorts by having them wake up early and go collect the morning dew drops from the banana leaves in his courtyard which would then be used for his tonics. It was during these punishments the consorts saw the state of the young girls. Apparently, they wouldn’t stand for such treatment of these poor girls and had to make a stand. But, really who knows their true motive, maybe it was because it was cold in the morning and waking up early was hard. Anyway, the story is that one day all the consorts who were subjected to this punishment conspired together to kill the Emperor. This would become known as the “Renyin Plot” or the “Palace Women’s Uprising”. In all, there were 16 palace women involved. 

At first, they went about their duties as normal, acting like nothing was up and waiting on him as usual. When suddenly, the facades dropped, and they pounced on him, holding him down while another palace woman used a ribbon from her hair to wrap around his neck and strangle him. When the ribbon proved too weak, they tried using the rope from a curtain, but that failed too since they weren’t able to get their knot tight enough. The incident was so shocking to the Emperor that at some point during the chaos he had fainted. One of the women got nervous about her involvement and in a panic ran off to tell the Empress about what had happened, begging her to summon someone to help revive the Emperor. In a rage, Empress Fang declared all the palace women who conspired to kill the Emperor would be executed by “Death from a thousand cuts”. This meant that the women were tied up in a public square for three days as their executioners slowly cut pieces off of them. After around 3,000 slices, the women would die. During these three days, small chunks of their bodies were sold to make medicines and tonics. There’s really no helping people at this point. This punishment still wasn’t severe enough though, and so 20 members of their families were enslaved, and ten more were also executed. During this time, the Emperor remained unconscious. When he did eventually wake up, he was completely fine, albeit a little rattled and angry one of his favourite consort had been executed. And though he would remain more withdrawn for the rest of his reign, he didn’t seem to learn his lesson and continued to collect 100s of young girls to supply the ingredients for his Elixirs. By the age of 59, he too died from elixir poisoning… that's a lot of red lead….  (0_0)

The search for immortality wasn’t only happening in China though. There were quite a few other notable instances of similar quests going on elsewhere, around the world.

There is a story that around 330bc while Alexander the Great was expanding his empire, he saw an old man peacefully sitting on the banks of the Indus River (modern-day Pakistan), and was amazed by how old he looked. He approached the man and asked him if he was immortal. When the man replied, "Yes", Alexander offered him all the riches in the world. But the Yogi replied these jewels and gold are just earth you have attached too much value to. Alexander threatened to behead the Yogi if he didn’t answer, so finally the Yogi told him there was a cave with a shallow pond. If he drank that water, he would be immortal, and so Alexander the Great set out on his voyage to find eternal life. Seems kinda like the Yogi just wanted him to leave him alone…. XD (I think he would have said anything to get Alexander the Great to leave at this point, just to get some peace and quiet again.

In 1433, Marsilio Ficino, an Italian priest/philosopher, claimed that if the old suck the blood of the young like leeches, then they would regain their youth. This type of idea wasn’t weird for the time, in fact, there was a whole branch of healthcare called cannibal medicine or Corpse Medicine.  In 1492, Pope Innocent VII was dying, and Marsilio Ficino jumped into action and began a procedure to try to save the Pope’s life. Three young boys were brought to the Pope, and he slowly sipped their blood in a makeshift attempt at the first-ever blood transfusion. Apparently, the Pope and three kids all died as a result of the procedure later that same day. The Pope was known for strongly opposing witchcraft and black magic, but drinking the blood of children didn’t seem to be a problem. XD 

In 1493, Juan Ponce de Leòn began his sea fairing career as a crew member of one of the expeditions led by Christopher Columbus. He eventually became a captain himself and led his own expeditions around the region of the Caribbean Sea. Along his trips, he heard a variety of repeating legends told by Caribean natives from different regions about a place called Adelantado, a land full of riches, pleasures and a spring that grants whoever drinks in or bathes in it, eternal youth. After hearing about these legends he eventually focused on searching for the fountain of youth. According to legend, this is what led him to discover Florida. Some theories suggest the Native peoples were just trying to make him go somewhere else, sort of like the Yogi, and leave them alone. 

If you saw our Vampire Hunter D video you’ll know all about this next person. Countess Elizabeth Bathory was a Hungarian noblewoman born in the 17th century. She firmly believed bathing in the blood of virgins would give her youth. She tortured over 600 young virgin girls to collect the blood she needed for her baths. Yikes!

This next one really takes the cake though. In 1889 a man named Charles-Édouard Brown-Séquard made the bold claim, that injecting himself subcutaneously with the testosterone extracted from dog testicles restored his youth. This study received a lot of attention and eventually, Serge Voronoff a Russian surgeon was inspired. He started his career researching the effects of castration on eunuchs while in Egypt, but would eventually pivot. Around 1910, he developed on the previous experiments by Charles-Edouard and in a bid to reverse aging he grafted monkey testicles directly onto an elderly man. He progressed to transplanting the testicles of deceased criminals onto millionaires in order to help old men regain their “vigour”. 

Okay, so after ALL that, you may be thinking, “ Well damn, that’s a huge amount of time and resources that were used for nothing”, but actually, it led to some pretty interesting discoveries. The most notable being Nitre or Potassium Nitrate, better known as gunpowder. This was used for firecrackers, fireworks, explosives, early firearms, and even a proto-rocket launcher. Chinese gunpowder would travel through the Silk Road to the Arabian Peninsula, where it would eventually find its way to the West. 

Little fun tidbit: Arabians referred to this material as Chinese Snow or Chinese Salt because it was white as snow. 

Qin Shi Huang’s obsession drove him to collect the greatest minds in one place so they could brainstorm an elixir; but what he unintentionally also did was create the perfect environment for them to collaborate in other areas as well. So, as a side effect, it led to advancements in infrastructure. Emperor Qin Shi Huang built roads, and canals, and had the idea to unite the existing forts into what would be the Great Wall of China. And he didn’t stop there, Qin Shi Huang went on to develop standardization for measurements, currency, and weights. The next bonus, as a result of trying to discover an elixir of immortality, was that the alchemists created various vessels and furnaces, as well as other tools, all of which were later used in chemistry and even in some cases for cooking.  

So it turns out that the search for immortality didn’t turn out all bad, sure they never found the secret to immortality, but they did inadvertently discover many different medicines and ointments for a variety of other ailments, you know, other than combatting old age.

Okay, so I hear you, those are great things and all, but what everyone really wants to know is. Did we ever find the elixir of immortality?

Drumroll please…….

We Have! ٩(^ᴗ^)۶

But it may not be what you think…. ( ☉ ౪ ☉’ )

Recently, in 2019, archeologists actually uncovered an ancient Chinese tomb with a vase filled with a mysterious liquid hidden inside. At first, the archeologists thought it was a type of rice wine, as it had a sweet alcoholic smell. After sequencing the contents though, it came back to be mostly Potassium Nitrate and Alunite, along with an Aluminium Potassium Sulfate mineral. These are all the exact ingredients described in a popular Taoist recipe for the Elixir of Immortality. Good thing the archeologists didn’t decide to try some ‘cause that wasn’t sweet alcohol they would’ve tasted. So definitely don’t put it in your mouth unless you know what it is folks. 

We’re sure many of you might be thinking, "Well that was all in the past, but are people still looking for the Elixir of Life now?" We are, it’s just a little different nowadays. Instead of funding large expeditions to decipher old stories, we are taking a more scientific approach. 

There have been global studies to pinpoint regions with the longest-living people. These regions are called Blue Zones and are known to have people who easily live to be over 100 years old. These areas are being studied to see what makes them so special and if it can be replicated elsewhere. A lot of the studies point to lifestyle as being the dominant factor, so what are people eating, how active are they physically, and what’s their social life like. 

One such Blue Zone is Okinawa, Japan. Remember when we said Xu Fu sailed East in search of the land of Happy Immortals, and that many scholars theorize that he landed in Okinawa… Well, with all the centenaries around, maybe Xu Fu really did think he found the land of immortals. Just think of the average life expectancy of the time. 

In the Chinese History book of Sui, there is a mythical Land of Happy Immortals, and it’s called Liúqiú, meaning "glazed horned dragon”. This land is generally agreed to reference the Ryukyu Kingdom as Ryukyu is thought to be the Japanese version of Liúqiú. 

The native peoples were taller and darker skinned than the Japanese. They wore their long hair loose and were adorned with piercings and golden chokers; usually armed with a spear and speaking a language unique from Japanese or Chinese. In an exchange of gifts, the natives presented boiled taro and dried seaweed to the foreigners, which even today is a staple of Okinawan cuisine. Taro and seaweed - noted, just gonna add that to the menu.

This whole area used to be made up of many small independent kingdoms that were eventually united as the Ryukyu Kingdom. This region covers the southern tip of Japan all the way to the north of Taiwan, as well as the more than 100 small islands in between. If not in Okinawa, Xu Fu could have landed on any one of these other islands. These islands are known for monsoons, strong winds, strong currents, and coral reef barriers, making it not exactly the easiest area to sail in. But these lands had crystal clear waters, tropical crops growing, and gorgeous cherry blossoms blooming, not to mention the various mountains that are sprinkled throughout the islands. It sounds like quite the paradise almost like Mount Penglai …maybe? XP

As we mentioned earlier, the diet in these regions and lifestyles are being studied in an attempt to uncover the mystery of longevity or even immortality. One such study is into a plant native to Okinawa called Geto, which is part of the ginger family also known as Alpinia Zerumbet, pink porcelain lily, or shell ginger. Geto is being called the Paradise Flower, with claims it can prolong life by as much as a fifth. Currently, it is being used cosmetically, but studies are being done to isolate its medicinal properties. It is still in the early phases of research, so take that as you will.

Just like Qin Shi Huang though, we are looking at more than one avenue at a time. 

There is one herb that we’ve already known about for years, since around 1578 AD to be exact. It’s found all across India, Bangladesh, Southeast Asia, Japan, Korea, and curiously even New Guinea. It can be found growing in forests, thickets, and mountain slopes at elevations of 300-3,200m (980 - 10,500 ft) above sea level. Its Latin name is Gynostemma pentaphyllum, also called Jiaogulan. In Chinese, it is referred to as Xiancao, literally translating to herb of immortality. In English, it has been known as Miracle Grass, Fairy Herb, Gospel Herb, or Sweet Tea Vine. In Japanese it is called Amachazuru, in Korean it’s Dungkulcha, and in Portuguese it’s called Cipó-Doce, and they all translate to sweet vine.

You may be thinking, “Ohwell, there isn’t any empirical evidence to prove this tea helps”. Well, I wouldn’t say that because this plant has been used by the peoples of mountainous regions of Southern China as a way to increase endurance and strength for hundreds of years. It’s used to relieve fatigue, or treat infectious diseases and colds and has been recognized as a rejuvenating elixir. One region of particular interest is Rugao, as well as the surrounding north shore of the Yangtze River. This area is known as “the oldest country in China” and was voted “China’s longevity region”. The elders reported drinking Jiaogulan tea instead of other more common teas, and as a result, many more people have lived to reach the ripe old age of 100. The people of the region are adamant this wonder plant is to thank for it.

Recently, scientists have been making some monumental discoveries about the process of aging and have even made bold claims that immortality may not be as impossible as we previously thought. Obviously, we are still a long way off from that, but it is interesting to see we still haven’t given up on this age-old quest.

That’s it for now,

~ Stay Obsessed