[1][2] Strobilanthes japonica grows 20–50 cm in height, with thin, heavily-branching stems and purplish-red glabrous (smooth) branchlets.

[1][2] The plant flowers from August or September to October or November, with 1.5 cm purple to white 5-lobed funnel-shaped corollas, which produce loculicidal capsules with four ovate seeds.

Druce in China, but S. japonica has lanceolate leaves and glabrous ovary,[1] and S. tretraspermus has a pubescent calyx.

")[7] The plant typically grows at 500–1100 meters altitude, and Flora of China notes that it is often found near temples and religious sites.

[9] An 1852 French journal transliterated two common Japanese names as "Ise fanabi" and "Iwa kikyau.