Historical Study on the Classification of Efficacy of Crude Drugs Used in Traditional Chinese and Japanese Kampo Medicine
- VernacularTitle:生薬の効能別分類法の歴史
- Author:
Toshiaki MAKINO
1
;
Tsukasa FUEKI
1
Author Information
- Keywords: efficacy; crude drug; classification; standardization
- From:Kampo Medicine 2025;76(1):46-54
- CountryJapan
- Language:Japanese
- Abstract: China proposed the method for classifying crude drugs used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) by their efficacy to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). However, there are no such standards in Kampo medicine. In this paper, we review the classification methods for crude drugs by efficacy from the pharmaceutical historical perspective published in Mainland China, Japan, Taiwan, and Korea, in order to obtain knowledges that will be useful for the future standardization of classification of crude drugs used in Kampo medicine by efficacy. The method of classifying crude drugs by efficacy in the present TCM began in the Republic of China era, and was almost completely established in the textbook edited in Nanjing in 1956. Taiwan and Korea have adopted a classification by efficacy almost the same as modern TCM. In Japan, during the Edo period, the classification of crude drugs by efficacy was not well developed, and it was appeared during the Taisho era using Western medicinal terminology. After that, a textbook using the classification of TCM and that using the original method based on TCM had been published. Future development on the standard of classification for crude drug efficacy in Japanese Kampo medicine is demanded.
