Jiu huang ben cao （Materia Medica for Relief of Famines） was the first monograph on famines herbal in the history of China, which creates a new research field of edible plants. Around the middie and late 17th century, Jiu huang ben cao was spread to Japan and aroused great attention of famous Japanese herbalists. Thus, all versions of different edition systems were circulated in Japan. Later, some famous Japanese scholar ssuccessively quoted texts of Jiu huang ben cao from the Nong zheng quan shu （ Whole book on Agricultural Administration） spread in Japan, and block-printed it as an independent work. As a result, Jiu huang ben cao virtually circulated widely in Japan.