The Kokon Hoi was the most widely used formulary in the Edo era.Here the author examines tendencies in the ways various Kokon Hoi editions were quoted, how Koga Tsugen approached his re-compilations, and how this influenced later, traditional Japanese medicine.
1. Editions of the Kokon Hoi compiled before Koga Tsugen are mainly quotations from newer works such as the Wanbinghuichun, the other of Gong Tingxian's works and the Yixuerumen.
2. Koga Tsugen re-compiled the Kokon Hoi twice as the (essential) Sanpo Kokon Hoi, and the (revised) Jutei Kokon Hoi.In the Jutei Kokon Hoi, the most popular edition of Kokon Hoi today, there are numerous quotes from the Wanbinghuichun, the Yixuerumen and Xue Ji's medical treatises.
3. In the re-compiling the Kokon Hoi, Koga Tsugen not only added the new prescriptions, he revised the list of references, and corrected prescription names, as well as the component drugs and doses of prescriptions.
4. The original Kokon Hoi was compiled to collect newly introduced prescriptions. Afterward Koga Tsugen aimed to adopt experiential prescriptions by editing the Kokon Hoi.The Kokon Hoi is one of the first formularies in traditional Japanese Kampo to enumerate prescriptions in which experiential effectiveness is regarded as important.
5. The Shuhokiku on the other hand, is based on a medical system of ”basic and modified prescriptions”.But the Shuhokiku gradually had become nearer a system of numerous enumerated experiential prescriptions like the Kokon Hoi.