In Japanese, maitake means “dancing mushroom,” and while there are several reasons why this mushroom may make you dance with delight, one story stands out above the others. Maitake was a highly prized product in feudal Japan, where local lords would exchange maitake for an equivalent weight in silver. As a result, the name “dancing mushroom” comes from Japanese commoners who would dance for delight when they discovered maitake, believing they would be well rewarded for their discovery. The mushroom was so valuable in Japan that, before it was commercially farmed, professional mushroom foragers would keep their harvest places so secret that they would only divulge their locations in their wills after their deaths.