


The Yayoi period started around the time of his supposed arrival. The Japanese historian Ino Okifu identifies Emperor Jimmu of Japan with Xu Fu. In Xuzhou, there is a Xu Fu Research Institute attached to Xuzhou Teachers College. Numerous temples and memorials of Xu can be found around Japan. The local worship of Xu Fu as the "god of farming", "god of medicine" and "god of silk" by the Japanese is attributed to these achievements. Xu is said to have brought new farming techniques and knowledge that improved the quality of life of the ancient Japanese people and Xu Fu is said to have introduced many new plants and techniques to ancient Japan, although the texts are written much later. This is the "Legend of Xu Fu" in Japan as evidenced by the many memorials to him there. Finally, more than 1,100 years after Xu Fu's final voyage, monk Yichu wrote during the Later Zhou (AD 951–960) of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period that Xu Fu landed in Japan, and also said Xu Fu named Mount Fuji as Penglai. Records of the Three Kingdoms and Book of the Later Han, and Guadi Zhi all state that he landed in "Danzhou" ( 亶州), but the whereabouts of Danzhou are unknown.

Later historical texts were also unclear on the location of Xu's final destination. The Records of the Grand Historian says he came to a place with "flat plains and wide swamps" ( 平原廣澤) and proclaimed himself king, never to return. Xu then set sail again, but he never returned from this trip. Qin Shi Huang agreed, and sent archers to kill a giant fish. In 210 BC, when Qin Shi Huang questioned him, Xu Fu claimed there was a giant sea creature blocking the path, and asked for archers to kill the creature. Xu sailed for several years without finding the mountain. In 219 BC, Xu Fu was sent with three thousand virgin boys and girls to retrieve the elixir of life from the immortals on the Mount Penglai, including Anqi Sheng, who was purportedly a magician who was already a thousand years old. He entrusted Xu Fu with the task of finding the secret elixir of immortality. The ruler of Qin Dynasty, Qin Shi Huang, feared death and sought a way to live forever. The expedition in search of the medicine for immortality.
