Shinno, known in Chinese as Shennong, is a legendary culture-hero venerated as the discoverer of agriculture and herbal medicine, credited in tradition with tasting hundreds of plants to determine their medicinal and toxic properties. In Japan he came to be honored, particularly by physicians, pharmacists, and herbalists, as a patron figure connected to the origins of medicine and healing practices. He is regarded as a legendary or mythological ancestor of medical knowledge rather than a deity native to Shinto, his veneration reflecting historical Chinese influence on Japanese medical culture.