Senkyu
Quick Facts
- What it is: Senkyu is the dried rhizome (underground stem) of Cnidium officinale, a single herb used in Kampo cold and women's health formulas.
- Main uses: Headache during a cold, Blocked nose, Period pain, Cold hands and feet
- Best for: Use inside a Kampo formula for a cold with headache and a stuffy nose
- Active ingredients: Ligustilide, Senkyunolides, Ferulic acid, Essential oil
- Forms: Sliced dried rhizome for simmering into a tea, Dried extract granules or powder in sachets, Part of ready-made Kampo formulas, Capsules and tinctures (less studied)
- Time to effect: Not well studied; cold blends are judged over a day or two, period blends over two or three cycles.
- Side effects: Mostly mild stomach upset; the effect to watch for is easier bruising or bleeding.
Track this remedy in the app
Track Senkyu with reminders and record whether it helped, in the app.
What is Senkyu?
Senkyu is a dried rhizome (an underground stem, a bit like a root) from the plant Cnidium officinale. It is one single herb used in Kampo, the herbal medicine of Japan. Its other name is Cnidium Rhizome.
Senkyu is almost never taken on its own. Kampo doctors add it to cold and flu blends for headache and a blocked nose. It is also put into blends for period pain, sore muscles and cold hands and feet.
Here is the short verdict. Senkyu has a long record of use in Kampo, but we found no human trials of the herb by itself. A long history of use is not proof that a herb works, and we say that once here so we do not repeat it in every section.
How does Senkyu work?
No one has shown how Senkyu works in the body. What follows is what lab work hints at, not proof.
In Kampo, Senkyu is called a blood-moving herb. It is chosen when a Kampo doctor thinks blood flow is poor or stuck. That is a traditional idea, not a lab finding.
In test tubes and in animals, extracts of Senkyu have relaxed blood vessels. They have also slowed platelets (the blood cells that clump together to form clots) from sticking. Some parts of the herb eased pain signals in animals.
None of this tells us what happens in a person who drinks a Kampo tea or takes a granule. The dose reaching the blood may be small, and Senkyu is nearly always mixed with other herbs. That mix makes it hard to know what any one herb is doing.
What forms does Senkyu come in?
Senkyu comes in a few forms, and nearly all of them are blends rather than the single herb.
The classic form is the sliced dried rhizome, simmered in water to make a strong tea (a decoction). This is how Kampo pharmacies have used it for centuries.
The common modern form is a dried extract granule or powder, sold in sachets. In Japan these are made to a set standard and some are covered by health insurance.
You will most often meet Senkyu inside a named formula, such as one for a cold with headache and a blocked nose, or one for period pain. Single-herb capsules and tinctures are sold online but are far less studied.
Where it comes from:
Senkyu has been a staple of Japanese Kampo since the Edo period (1603 to 1868), and the plant has been grown in Japan for that long.
The idea came from Chinese medicine, where a close cousin plant is used under the name chuanxiong. Korean medicine uses a related herb too. Because the plant species differ, we treat Senkyu as a staple of Kampo rather than a shared classical herb.
In old Kampo texts it is grouped with herbs for headache, cold symptoms and women's health complaints.
Who should avoid Senkyu?
- Do not use if you take warfarin, heparin, apixaban, rivaroxaban or any other blood-thinning medicine, unless your doctor has agreed
- Do not use if you take an antiplatelet drug (a medicine that stops blood cells from sticking together), such as aspirin or clopidogrel, unless your doctor has agreed
- Do not use if you have a bleeding disorder such as haemophilia (a condition where the blood does not clot properly) or a low platelet count (too few of the blood cells that form clots)
- Do not use if you are bleeding now, for example from a stomach ulcer (a sore in the stomach lining), heavy periods or a recent injury
- Do not use if you have surgery, dental surgery or a birth planned within the next two weeks
- Do not use if you are pregnant or trying to become pregnant, unless a Kampo doctor has prescribed it and is checking on you
- Do not use if you are breastfeeding, as there is no safety information for this
- Do not use if you have ever reacted badly to Senkyu or to plants in the carrot family, such as celery, parsley or angelica
- Do not use if you are giving it to a child, unless a doctor has told you to
- Do not use if you are already taking another Kampo formula that contains Senkyu, as the doses add up
When should you see a doctor?
See a doctor if you bruise for no reason, bleed for a long time from a small cut, have a nosebleed that will not stop, or see blood in your urine, stool or vomit.
See a doctor if you get a rash, swelling of the lips or face, or trouble breathing after taking it. Stop the herb straight away.
See a doctor if a headache is sudden and severe, comes with a stiff neck, fever, confusion or weakness on one side, or if your cold symptoms last more than ten days or get worse.
Also check with a doctor or pharmacist before you start, if you take any prescription medicine at all.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
4.8
