Although the crude drug Rhei Rhizoma (Chinese: Da-huang; Japanese: Daio) is now commonly employed as a purgative, some question remains as to whether it was originally used as a depurative (purifying agent; specifically an agent for expelling Stagnated Blood) or purgative in ancient times. There is also some confusion as to the medicinal part of the crude drug being sold on the market. This herbological study was carried out in order to clarify these issues.
The results showed that Rhei Rhizoma was originally used mainly as an agent to expel Stagnated Blood, although it was also used for its purgative and other properties. Until the Qing dynasty, the rhizome of the large Rheum species, including R. palmatum, was known as the best quality Da-huang. The recent use of the root is thought to be due to recognition of the purgative properties of Da-huang.
Da-huang has many medicinal properties in addition to its usefulness as a purgative, and there is a need for further study of these properties as well as the differences between the pharmacological actions of the rhizome and those of the root.

The Chinese crude drug “Mu-tong, ” “Mokutsu” in Japanese, is standardized as the stem of Akebia quinata Decne. and A. trifoliata Koidz. of Lardizabalaceae in the modern Japanese pharmacopoeia. On the other hand, the botanical origin of Mu-tong is rather complicated in China, and many different plants among several families are used as a kind of Mu-tong. The herbological study clarified that Chinese doctors in the Tang dynasty had changed the original name “Tong-tsao” to “Mu-tong, ” meaning “woody Tong-tsao, ” to distinguish it from another type of Tong-tsao derived from the soft pith of Tetrapanax papyrifera Koch of the family Araliaceae plant. The classical botanical origin of Mu-tong is Akebia plants. Though the pith of Tetrapanax papyrifera is used as “Tong-tsao” in modern China, Akebiae Caulis is the true botanical source of ancient prescriptions such as those found in Shang-han-lun, an ancient Chinese medical book.

Ge-gen, a Chinese crude drug derived from the root of Pueraria lobata Ohwi of the family Leguminosae, is collected in the winter nowadays both in China and in Japan. However, in the old descriptions of materia medica written in ancient China, it was said that the proper collection season was May or in the early summer on Chinese calendar. Present herbological study resulted that the collection season had been changed in the Yuan or Ming dynasty in China, mainly because of the confusion with eating Ge-gen, which was collected in the winter. The Ge-gen collected in the early summer should be dispensed in the prescriptions written in the old medical books such as Shang-han-lun and Jin-kui-yao-lue.

Processing methods for the crude drugs shokyo (fresh ginger) and kankyo (dried ginger) have been different in China and Japan, although the reasons for this have not been clear. In this study, we revealed a historical transition in the processing methods for shokyo and kankyo.
We found that the name shokyo had been used for fresh ginger rhizome in China since the end of the Hou han dynasty. The name had also been used for shokyo in Japan, whereas the term shokyo was then applied to dried ginger in the Japanese pharmacopoeia during the Meiji era. With kankyo, on the other hand, several dif ferent processing methods existed in China. For example, ginger fermented in a ceramic pot after being soaked in running water and dried was called kankyo, and was strongly associated with the property ‘hot’. However, we supposed that simply dried ginger, which has the property ‘warm’, came to be called as kankyo exclusively from the middle of the Qing dynasty. Meanwhile, only ginger dried with lime after being steamed was called kankyo in Japan. We also found that ginger whitened with lime was produced and sold in pharmacies because of a description by Shizhen Li, to the effect that “white ginger has higher quality”. This controversial method has been changed to one without the use of lime since the Meiji era.

In China, the roots of several species of Paeonia plants in the Paeoniaceae family have been used as crude drugs under the names of Ji-shao-yao, or the red peony, and Bai-shao-yao, or the white peony, since olden times. While in Japan, the simply dried root of Paeonia lactiflora Pallas has been used as the Chinese crude drug Shao-yao, or Shakuyaku in Japanese. As for the origins of the modern “red” and “white” peony names, there have been a variety of theories, e.g. the names were perhaps derived from differences in their root or flower colors, or whether they were wild or cultivated. Based on our herbological study, we have concluded that the dried root with a cork surface was named the red peony, and those peeled cork layers, the white peony. During the Ming Dynasty, in China, the root of wild peonies such as Paeonia veiitchii and P. obovata, whose flowers are reddish, were processed into the red peony, while cultivated peony root of the white flowered variety, P. lactiflora, was processed into the white peony drug. Because of this coincidence in flower color and name of the processed product, red flowered varieties or wild plants came to be called the plant origin of the red peony, while the white flowered varieties or cultivated plants came to be called the white peony.
Red color ; Plant Roots ; Peony ; Paeonia ; Chinese People

From ancient times, the crude drug rhubarb (Da-huang in Chinese, Daio in Japanese) has been processed using liquor in various ways in China. There are mainly three ways of processing it ; liquor-soaking, liquor-dipping and liquor-frying. Today, the liquor-fried rhubarb, appropriately named ‘liquor rhubarb’, is widely used. But it is not clear why use of the rhubarb processed with liquor began. Thus, we researched ancient literature published after the Jin and Yuan dynasties, when medical treatment was done based on the theories. We found that the ‘liquor-soaked rhubarb’ was used as a depurative, while the ‘liquor-dipped rhubarb’ was used as a purgative or a digestive. ‘Liquor-fried rhubarb’ use began after the Ming dynasty, and its medicinal effect was expected to be the same as the two processed rhubarbs of earlier periods.
distilled alcoholic beverage ; Rhubarb ; Today ; dalton ; Japanese language

Japanese pharmacopoeia prescribes a crude drug, Uncaria hook, or the hook-like structures of Uncaria rhynchophylla (Miq.) Jacks, U. sinensis (Oliv.) Havil., and U. macrophylla Wall., while Chinese pharmacopoeia prescribes the hooks with attached stems of above3species, in addition to2other species of Uncaria hook; U. hirsuta Havil. and U. sessilifructus Roxb (all in the Rubiaceae family). Our herbological study has found that the botanical origin was Uncaria rhynchophylla before the Ming Dynasty, and that the part used was not the hook itself, but the plant's bark till the early Ming Dynasty. Use of the hooks with stems began in the late Ming Dynasty. On the other hand, in Japan, the hooks themselves have been mainly collected from wild U. rhynchophylla plants growing in southern warm-temperate zone of Japan, for use in Kampo medicines. We considered this differing Japanese custom was influenced by the descriptions in the Ben Cao Gan Mu (1596)written in the Ming dynasty by Li Si Chen, which state that the hook itself had medicinally sharp power. And we conclude that use of Uncaria bark alone is reasonable for prescriptions which originated before the early Ming dynasty, such as chotosan.
Unit ; Chinese People ; Japanese language ; Within ; Hook

In the previous paper, the authors have investigated a Chinese crude drug Ge-gen, the root of Pueraria species of the family Leguminosae, and concluded that it should be collected in the early summer for medical use. This is a report of the differences in the content of the constituents between Ge-gen harvested in the summer and in the winter. Yields of water extract of winter Ge-gens were generally higher, while no significant difference was recognized in the content of starch and flavonoids, such as puerarin and daidzin. Starch content varies widely with the stock, and that of the same stock did not show significant difference between the summer root and the winter one.

In traditional Chinese medicine, crude drugs are sometime processed and prepared for specific purposes. Rhubarb (Da-huang in Chinese; Daio in Japanese) has been processed by dipping or soaking it in huangjiu (Chinese fermented wine). However, the pharmacologic significance of this liquor processing has not been elucidated thoroughly. In this report, we describe how processing with ethanol altered the levels of the principal compounds in rhubarb: sennoside A, sennoside B, aloe-emodin, rhein, emodin, chrysophanol, physcion, lindleyin, isolindleyin, and total tannins. Liquor-dipping, dipping rhubarb in 16% ethanol for 30 seconds, did not affect the content of sennosides. Thus, the purgative effect of rhubarb is likely to be preserved. Liquor-soaking, soaking rhubarb in ethanol for 12 to 24 hours, the content of sennosides and tannins decreased and the content of anthraquinones increased. Liquor-soaking of rhubarb may increase its anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory effects, thereby improving blood stasis. These results are in agreement with the descriptions in medicinal literatures published since the Jin and Yuan Dynasties.

The crude drug Aconite Root (bushi in Japanese) contains toxic compounds called bushi diester alkaloids(BDA), and the raw material with high BDA content has been considered suitable for processing into prepared bushi. Moreover, processing methods and an upper BDA content limit are prescribed in the 16th edition of Japanese Pharmacopoeia. In this study, we closely examined descriptions of high quality bushi in ancient herbal literature, and elucidated the relationship between bushi forms and BDA contents. The results showed that large-sized bushi with enlarged rootlets called “horns” (tsuno in Japanese) were considered higher quality, and the horns and the root tops (hozo in Japanese) were cut off when used as bushi. Meanwhile, chemical studies have shown that larger bushi contains less BDA, and the root tops and the horns contain more BDA than the root body. These results suggest that selecting larger roots and cutting off the more potent parts were processes for reducing BDA. Therefore we conclude that consistently less toxic bushi was considered a higher quality product in ancient times.