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Shiitake Cultivation
According to writings by Zhang Shau-Cheng, Wu San Kwung developed Shiitake cultivation during the Chinese Sung Dynasty (960-1127 CE) in the Lung-Shyr Village of the mountainous Lung-Chyuan County in Zhejiang Province.
As the legend goes, Wu San Kwung frequently hunted wild mushrooms in the forested high mountains surrounding his village. One day, Kwung discovered that broken tree limbs produced what he called shiangshyuhn ("nice-smelling mushroom") and that if he cut the logs, the mushrooms would grow larger and in greater number. But if the mushrooms would fail to appear, he would become angry and beat the logs vigorously, stimulating the growth of more mushrooms.
Eventually, the cultivation process was further refined until, in 1313 CE, Wang Cheng wrote down a Shiitake cultivation protocol in the Book of Agriculture. Cheng described cutting holes in maple (Acer), sweetgum (Liquidambar), or chestnut (Castanopsis) logs and then burying them in soil for one year. Afterward, the logs were to be covered with branches, leaves, and soil, and frequently watered with kitchen wastewater. A few hours after watering, a wooden club was then used to beat the logs and encourage fruit bodies to appear, a process known as jingshiang ("shocking the mushroom"). The practices of cutting, inoculating, soaking, and shocking logs still lie at the core of Shiitake cultivation today.
The importance of Wu San Kwung's contributions to Chinese agriculture was never forgotten. During the Ch'ing Dynasty, two major temples were built to honor the man, one in 1739 and another in 1875. There are also small temples dedicated to Wu San Kwung in almost every mushroom growing village. And every year from July 16 to 19 on the Chinese calendar, there is an all-day celebration to give thanks to the legendary mycological figure.[1]
Sources
- ↑ Radical Mycology, by Peter McCoy, p. 71, Ch. 3: Of the Hyphosphere