Kampo is an individualized medical system based on “Sho.” On the other hand, EBM is a result of mass analysis which diminished fluctuations of each patient. This means that Kampo does not adapt itself to EBM. However, so far as Kampo remains case report, the usefulness of this medicine carries little conviction, and does not persuade the attitude of the Ministry of health, welfare and Labor of Japan. So that, I would like to propose several new ideas which compensate the differences between Kampo concept and elaboration of EBM.

Bronchial asthma is now considered to be caused by airway hyper-responsiveness due to airway inflammation. Accordingly, inhaled corticosteroids, which reduce inflammation, have become the main treatment for this disorder. However, airway hyper-responsiveness would not improve in spite of using inhaled corticosteroids.
Kampo medicines such as Sho-seiryu-to, Makyo-Kanseki-to, Eppi-ka-hange-to, Shimpi-to and Saiboku-to are reported to be effective for bronchial asthma. However, it is still difficult to treat adult asthmatic patients by with these Kampo formulae.
We reported that Hachimi-jio-gan or Bakumi-jio-gan improved airway hyper-responsiveness and could reduce the doses of corticosteroids, or discontinue corticosteroids in four asthmatic patients. Case 1 is a patient induced by cold weather, Case 2 is a patient with hoarseness, Case 3 is a patient whose attacks are induced with exercise, and Case 4 is an intractable patient with recurrent pulmonary infection. These formulae consist of Rokumi-jio-gan, which is considered a basic prescription for moisturizing the dryness of airway mucosa and improving pulmonary function in Kampo medicine. These results suggest that moisture in airway mucosa following oral administration of these formulae is important to improve airway hyper-responsiveness.