In this study, I examine how Chinese medicine, particularly from the Song 宋 and Yuan 元 dynasties, was received during the late Koryŏ 高麗 dynasty, along with the responses of the Korean peninsula’s medical community. Previous discussions of Koryŏ medicine have primarily focused on hyangyak 鄕藥, local herbs that were readily available. To move beyond these limitations, this study explores how the medical systems of the Song and Yuan were conceptualized as central, representing universal medicine, while Koryŏ’s and its medical practices were positioned as peripheral, characterized as local medicine. The broader field of medicine is examined across four categories: medical principles, diagnostic methods or pathological explanations, formulas, and herbs.
Situated on the eastern periphery of the Chinese continent, Koryŏ regarded Song medicine as advanced and central. In response, Koryŏ actively sought to study Song medical knowledge by importing comprehensive, government-compiled medical texts and petitioning for the establishment of medical education. Following the fall of Song, the Mongol (Yuan) dynasty emerged as the new ruling power and invaded Koryŏ nine times over a 30-year period. In 1259, the Koryŏ king succumbed to the Mongols (Yuan), and Koryŏ remained under the political influence of the Yuan Empire until 1356. As a result, Yuan medicine was adopted in Koryŏ, both semi-compulsorily and organically.
Evidence of Yuan influence can be found in surviving Koryŏ texts, which reflect the impact of the Comprehensive Record of Sagely Benefaction 聖濟總錄, a key text emphasized in the Yuan dynasty’s medical civil service examinations, as well as the new formulas introduced by the renowned physician Li Gao 李杲, Luo Tianyi 羅天益. Moreover, among the writings left by Yi Saek 李穡, a Koryŏ writer, are anatomical records derived from Yuan texts and correspondence with Yang Jongjin 楊宗眞, who is believed to be a Chinese medical practitioner. These records indicate that Koryŏ intellectuals made contact with Yuan medicine through various channels. However, effective clinical implementation of such newly acquired medical knowledge required access to specific medicinal herbs. While Koryŏ was under the Yuan rule, the close political relationship provided relatively easy access to valuable medicinal herbs, but this access was limited. As Koryŏ increasingly adopted Yuan medical practices, challenges surrounding the supply and demand of herbs became increasingly significant, prompting local medical practitioners to seek practical solutions.
To Koryŏ medical scholars and practitioners residing in the periphery, the medicine of Song and Yuan represented universal medicine. While they were able to acquire the knowledge of medical principles, diagnostic methods or pathological explanations, formulas, and herbs from this universal medicine, the political and geographical distance between the center and the periphery restricted the availability of medicinal herbs in Koryŏ. The most viable response was to establish a material foundation rooted in local herbs and to compile formularies that documented local herbs and simple prescriptions 單方 composed of only a few accessible herbs. This process reveals the conflict, compromise, and adaptation that occurred as Koryŏ’s local medicine confronted and adopted the universal medicine of the Chinese center.

In this study, I examine how Chinese medicine, particularly from the Song 宋 and Yuan 元 dynasties, was received during the late Koryŏ 高麗 dynasty, along with the responses of the Korean peninsula’s medical community. Previous discussions of Koryŏ medicine have primarily focused on hyangyak 鄕藥, local herbs that were readily available. To move beyond these limitations, this study explores how the medical systems of the Song and Yuan were conceptualized as central, representing universal medicine, while Koryŏ’s and its medical practices were positioned as peripheral, characterized as local medicine. The broader field of medicine is examined across four categories: medical principles, diagnostic methods or pathological explanations, formulas, and herbs.
Situated on the eastern periphery of the Chinese continent, Koryŏ regarded Song medicine as advanced and central. In response, Koryŏ actively sought to study Song medical knowledge by importing comprehensive, government-compiled medical texts and petitioning for the establishment of medical education. Following the fall of Song, the Mongol (Yuan) dynasty emerged as the new ruling power and invaded Koryŏ nine times over a 30-year period. In 1259, the Koryŏ king succumbed to the Mongols (Yuan), and Koryŏ remained under the political influence of the Yuan Empire until 1356. As a result, Yuan medicine was adopted in Koryŏ, both semi-compulsorily and organically.
Evidence of Yuan influence can be found in surviving Koryŏ texts, which reflect the impact of the Comprehensive Record of Sagely Benefaction 聖濟總錄, a key text emphasized in the Yuan dynasty’s medical civil service examinations, as well as the new formulas introduced by the renowned physician Li Gao 李杲, Luo Tianyi 羅天益. Moreover, among the writings left by Yi Saek 李穡, a Koryŏ writer, are anatomical records derived from Yuan texts and correspondence with Yang Jongjin 楊宗眞, who is believed to be a Chinese medical practitioner. These records indicate that Koryŏ intellectuals made contact with Yuan medicine through various channels. However, effective clinical implementation of such newly acquired medical knowledge required access to specific medicinal herbs. While Koryŏ was under the Yuan rule, the close political relationship provided relatively easy access to valuable medicinal herbs, but this access was limited. As Koryŏ increasingly adopted Yuan medical practices, challenges surrounding the supply and demand of herbs became increasingly significant, prompting local medical practitioners to seek practical solutions.
To Koryŏ medical scholars and practitioners residing in the periphery, the medicine of Song and Yuan represented universal medicine. While they were able to acquire the knowledge of medical principles, diagnostic methods or pathological explanations, formulas, and herbs from this universal medicine, the political and geographical distance between the center and the periphery restricted the availability of medicinal herbs in Koryŏ. The most viable response was to establish a material foundation rooted in local herbs and to compile formularies that documented local herbs and simple prescriptions 單方 composed of only a few accessible herbs. This process reveals the conflict, compromise, and adaptation that occurred as Koryŏ’s local medicine confronted and adopted the universal medicine of the Chinese center.

In this study, I examine how Chinese medicine, particularly from the Song 宋 and Yuan 元 dynasties, was received during the late Koryŏ 高麗 dynasty, along with the responses of the Korean peninsula’s medical community. Previous discussions of Koryŏ medicine have primarily focused on hyangyak 鄕藥, local herbs that were readily available. To move beyond these limitations, this study explores how the medical systems of the Song and Yuan were conceptualized as central, representing universal medicine, while Koryŏ’s and its medical practices were positioned as peripheral, characterized as local medicine. The broader field of medicine is examined across four categories: medical principles, diagnostic methods or pathological explanations, formulas, and herbs.
Situated on the eastern periphery of the Chinese continent, Koryŏ regarded Song medicine as advanced and central. In response, Koryŏ actively sought to study Song medical knowledge by importing comprehensive, government-compiled medical texts and petitioning for the establishment of medical education. Following the fall of Song, the Mongol (Yuan) dynasty emerged as the new ruling power and invaded Koryŏ nine times over a 30-year period. In 1259, the Koryŏ king succumbed to the Mongols (Yuan), and Koryŏ remained under the political influence of the Yuan Empire until 1356. As a result, Yuan medicine was adopted in Koryŏ, both semi-compulsorily and organically.
Evidence of Yuan influence can be found in surviving Koryŏ texts, which reflect the impact of the Comprehensive Record of Sagely Benefaction 聖濟總錄, a key text emphasized in the Yuan dynasty’s medical civil service examinations, as well as the new formulas introduced by the renowned physician Li Gao 李杲, Luo Tianyi 羅天益. Moreover, among the writings left by Yi Saek 李穡, a Koryŏ writer, are anatomical records derived from Yuan texts and correspondence with Yang Jongjin 楊宗眞, who is believed to be a Chinese medical practitioner. These records indicate that Koryŏ intellectuals made contact with Yuan medicine through various channels. However, effective clinical implementation of such newly acquired medical knowledge required access to specific medicinal herbs. While Koryŏ was under the Yuan rule, the close political relationship provided relatively easy access to valuable medicinal herbs, but this access was limited. As Koryŏ increasingly adopted Yuan medical practices, challenges surrounding the supply and demand of herbs became increasingly significant, prompting local medical practitioners to seek practical solutions.
To Koryŏ medical scholars and practitioners residing in the periphery, the medicine of Song and Yuan represented universal medicine. While they were able to acquire the knowledge of medical principles, diagnostic methods or pathological explanations, formulas, and herbs from this universal medicine, the political and geographical distance between the center and the periphery restricted the availability of medicinal herbs in Koryŏ. The most viable response was to establish a material foundation rooted in local herbs and to compile formularies that documented local herbs and simple prescriptions 單方 composed of only a few accessible herbs. This process reveals the conflict, compromise, and adaptation that occurred as Koryŏ’s local medicine confronted and adopted the universal medicine of the Chinese center.

In this study, I examine how Chinese medicine, particularly from the Song 宋 and Yuan 元 dynasties, was received during the late Koryŏ 高麗 dynasty, along with the responses of the Korean peninsula’s medical community. Previous discussions of Koryŏ medicine have primarily focused on hyangyak 鄕藥, local herbs that were readily available. To move beyond these limitations, this study explores how the medical systems of the Song and Yuan were conceptualized as central, representing universal medicine, while Koryŏ’s and its medical practices were positioned as peripheral, characterized as local medicine. The broader field of medicine is examined across four categories: medical principles, diagnostic methods or pathological explanations, formulas, and herbs.
Situated on the eastern periphery of the Chinese continent, Koryŏ regarded Song medicine as advanced and central. In response, Koryŏ actively sought to study Song medical knowledge by importing comprehensive, government-compiled medical texts and petitioning for the establishment of medical education. Following the fall of Song, the Mongol (Yuan) dynasty emerged as the new ruling power and invaded Koryŏ nine times over a 30-year period. In 1259, the Koryŏ king succumbed to the Mongols (Yuan), and Koryŏ remained under the political influence of the Yuan Empire until 1356. As a result, Yuan medicine was adopted in Koryŏ, both semi-compulsorily and organically.
Evidence of Yuan influence can be found in surviving Koryŏ texts, which reflect the impact of the Comprehensive Record of Sagely Benefaction 聖濟總錄, a key text emphasized in the Yuan dynasty’s medical civil service examinations, as well as the new formulas introduced by the renowned physician Li Gao 李杲, Luo Tianyi 羅天益. Moreover, among the writings left by Yi Saek 李穡, a Koryŏ writer, are anatomical records derived from Yuan texts and correspondence with Yang Jongjin 楊宗眞, who is believed to be a Chinese medical practitioner. These records indicate that Koryŏ intellectuals made contact with Yuan medicine through various channels. However, effective clinical implementation of such newly acquired medical knowledge required access to specific medicinal herbs. While Koryŏ was under the Yuan rule, the close political relationship provided relatively easy access to valuable medicinal herbs, but this access was limited. As Koryŏ increasingly adopted Yuan medical practices, challenges surrounding the supply and demand of herbs became increasingly significant, prompting local medical practitioners to seek practical solutions.
To Koryŏ medical scholars and practitioners residing in the periphery, the medicine of Song and Yuan represented universal medicine. While they were able to acquire the knowledge of medical principles, diagnostic methods or pathological explanations, formulas, and herbs from this universal medicine, the political and geographical distance between the center and the periphery restricted the availability of medicinal herbs in Koryŏ. The most viable response was to establish a material foundation rooted in local herbs and to compile formularies that documented local herbs and simple prescriptions 單方 composed of only a few accessible herbs. This process reveals the conflict, compromise, and adaptation that occurred as Koryŏ’s local medicine confronted and adopted the universal medicine of the Chinese center.

In this research, I aimed to recognize the historical meaning of installing the medical education center, ‘Uihak 醫學’, during the Silla 新羅 dynasty. ‘Uihak’ was installed in 692, in the first year of King Hyoso 孝昭 ’s rule. ‘Uihak’ was founded by using various Chinese medical classics as its textbooks for medical education, such as the Classic of Plain Questions 素問經.The wooden prescriptions excavated from Anapji 雁鴨池, which is thought to have been created in the middle of the 8th century, and the Chinese medical book Prescriptions for Universal Benefit 廣利方, which the envoy of Silla tried to acquire in 803, reflect the idea on medicine during that period in Silla. By this time, the field of medicine began to develop the idea to discern the locations and mechanism of disease patterns by centering on the viscera and bowels 臟腑 while making use of the herbal prescriptions based on various drugs. This means that clinical medicine founded upon the medical education achieved in ‘Uihak’ was being realized in the medical fields as well. According to the Chronicles of the Three States 三國史記, for the illness of Queen Sunduk 善德 in 636, medicine, praying, and the method of esoteric Buddhism 密敎 was tried out as a means of her cure. Comparatively, for the treatment of the first rank Chunggong 忠公 in 822, the Kingdom’s representative doctor 國 醫 with professional medical knowledge was sought out to fine a cure. The analyses of the human disease, diagnosis, treatment method, etc., given by the kingdom’s representative doctor were identical to those recommended in the medical textbooks used in ‘Uihak’. As such, we can posit that his academic background was ‘Uihak’ and the education given there.The Classic of Materia Medica 本草經, which was also used in ‘Uihak’, was a book professionally centered on the drug branch of medicine. The Classic of Materia Medica is a terminology referring to various books on drugs, including the Shennong’s Classic of Materia Medica 神農本草經, the Variorum of the Classic of Materia Medica 本草經集注, the Newly Revised Materia Medica 新修本草, etc. Thus, we cannot specify what the classic of Materia Medica actually taught, based on only its terminology. However, based on the wooden prescriptions excavated from Anapji, and from the terminology of drugs recorded in the drug trading document Purchase List for Silla goods 買新羅物解 preserved in Shosoin 正倉院 of Japan, we can hypothesize that in the middle of the 8th century, the Newly Revised Materia Medica was indeed being circulated. Based on these evidences, we can also hypothesize that Silla was part of the network of drug trading that encompassed the entire region of Asia.After unifying the Korean peninsula, the Kingdom of Silla actively adopted the medical educational system of Tang 唐 China. By using the obtained medical knowledge, Silla cured illnesses and used the medical knowledge on various drugs recorded in the Newly Revised Materia Medica to pursue trade with China, Japan, and other countries. Through the installation of ‘Uihak’, the same medicine has now begun to be officially used in East Asia, including Silla.

In this research, I analyzed Stray notes with experienced tests (歷試漫筆), a medical book written by I Sugi (李壽祺), a physician of Joseon (朝鮮) dynasty, to check the trend of clinical medicine and the reasoning prevalent among Joseon physicians in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. I Sugi’s medical science can be sorted into diagnosis and treatment. For accurate diagnosis, there had to be examinations and analysis on the nature of a disease. He made use of four kinds of examination methods including seeing, hearing, touching, and asking, and he favored pulse diagnosis. The nature of a disease was analyzed based on standards of eight principle, six meridian, five vicera, etc., but the analysis was not fixed on specific standards. Regarding the treatment of illness after diagnosis, he used a single drug, ready-made herbal formula, or adding or subtracting herbs to the formula according to the symptoms, etc. For medical reasons needed for diagnosis and treatment, previously published medical books were utilized. Treasured Mirror of Eastern Medicine (東醫寶鑑) was much depended upon, for it was even cited in full sentences.
I Sugi’s clinical medicine that embraces diagnosis and treatment can be concluded as ‘Pulse, Syndrome, Formula, and Herb (脈證方藥),’ which is a concept that includes pulse diagnosis, symptom analysis, composition of formula with herbs. This method emphasizes using pulse diagnosis as examination method and modification of formula as treatment tool. The period of ‘Pulse, Syndrome, Formula, and Herb’ lasted for quite a long time, but its usage stopped as in the modern times when Western medicine was introduced, along with new concept of illness, including the germ theory. Afterwards, ‘Syndrome Differentiation and Therapy Determination (辨證論治)’ appeared in China, which not only emphasized the difference between Chinese medicine and Western medicine but also prepared for the integration with Western medicine, and took the place of ‘Pulse, Syndrome, Formula, and Herb.’
Stray notes with experienced tests vividly shows how doctor I Sugi applies medical knowledge of East Asia organized through Treasured Mirror of Eastern Medicine to real clinical medical treatment. Furthermore, this book shows that in this context, physicians of Joseon in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries referred to the ‘Pulse, Syndrome, Formula, and Herb’ to perform clinical medical treatment and to proceed with clinical reasoning.

In this research, I have tried to overview the diagnosis and treatment of smallpox performed by Heo Joon, a representative physician of Joseon (朝鮮) dynasty. In order to accomplish this, I analyzed the smallpox related contents shown in the Essentials of Smallpox translated in Korean (諺解痘瘡集要) and a comprehensive medical book Treasured Mirror of Eastern Medicine (東醫寶鑑), both written by Heo Joon. In examining these sources, I found out that Heo Joon used a medical method called ‘Syndrome differentiation (辨證)’ in treating smallpox. Next, I compared the medical cases of smallpox left behind by physicians before and after Heo Joon, so as to shed light on the meaning Heo Joon’s smallpox medicine has in the history of medicine.
Heo Joon read the Compendium of Smallpox (瘡疹集) published by the Joseon government and medical books newly imported from Ming (明) China, in order to write the Essentials of Smallpox. His goal was to concentrate all the knowledge related to smallpox in just one book. One aspect that was considered was that this book’s target reader did not know anything about smallpox and could not read the Chinese letters. Heo Joon, to solve this problem, collected and organized the essentials of previous medical information and at the same time provided Korean translations.
For Heo Joon, the main point of smallpox medicine was to discriminate the good or bad state of prognosis through the looks and colors of the smallpox, and to distinguish the lightness or heaviness of the symptoms through the concomitant symptoms. And such thoughts materialized into judging deficiency and excess, distinguishing concomitant symptoms, and discriminating similar symptoms. Not long after the Essentials of Smallpox was published, Treasured Mirror was published. As a comprehensive medical book that covered many diseases, Treasured Mirror had to have a coherent theoretical system on diagnosing diseases and treating them. What Heo Joon regarded as the most important content, namely discrimination and distinguishment of the looks and symptoms of smallpox, was included in Treasured Mirror in the name of ‘Syndrome differentiation (辨證)’. There are not any specific Heo Joon’s medical case left today, so we do not know how much his smallpox medicine contributed to uplifting the cure rate of smallpox in reality. However, comparing the case in the Compendium of Smallpox to case recorded by later physicians such as Park Jinhee (朴振禧), Ryu Sang (柳瑺), syndrome differentiation proposed by Heo Joon was not only succeeded by physicians of later generations but also contributed greatly to the success in treating smallpox.
Heo Joon did not know about the pathology, causes of the smallpox, discovered by biomedicine. Even considering this, his medical contribution is clear. Based on the visible symptoms of smallpox and medical accomplishments of the previous eras, he organized and compactly proposed the causes, progression, distinguishing concomitant symptoms, treatments for symptoms development, etc. of the smallpox. In addition, in order to overcome the limit of simple symptomatic treatment, he entitled the chapter of medical thought of analysis symptoms ‘syndrome differentiation’ present in the previous medical books. It was the advent of Joseon’s edition of smallpox medicine based on syndrome differentiation.

In this research, I have tried to overview the diagnosis and treatment of smallpox performed by Heo Joon, a representative physician of Joseon (朝鮮) dynasty. In order to accomplish this, I analyzed the smallpox related contents shown in the Essentials of Smallpox translated in Korean (諺解痘瘡集要) and a comprehensive medical book Treasured Mirror of Eastern Medicine (東醫寶鑑), both written by Heo Joon. In examining these sources, I found out that Heo Joon used a medical method called ‘Syndrome differentiation (辨證)’ in treating smallpox. Next, I compared the medical cases of smallpox left behind by physicians before and after Heo Joon, so as to shed light on the meaning Heo Joon’s smallpox medicine has in the history of medicine.
Heo Joon read the Compendium of Smallpox (瘡疹集) published by the Joseon government and medical books newly imported from Ming (明) China, in order to write the Essentials of Smallpox. His goal was to concentrate all the knowledge related to smallpox in just one book. One aspect that was considered was that this book’s target reader did not know anything about smallpox and could not read the Chinese letters. Heo Joon, to solve this problem, collected and organized the essentials of previous medical information and at the same time provided Korean translations.
For Heo Joon, the main point of smallpox medicine was to discriminate the good or bad state of prognosis through the looks and colors of the smallpox, and to distinguish the lightness or heaviness of the symptoms through the concomitant symptoms. And such thoughts materialized into judging deficiency and excess, distinguishing concomitant symptoms, and discriminating similar symptoms. Not long after the Essentials of Smallpox was published, Treasured Mirror was published. As a comprehensive medical book that covered many diseases, Treasured Mirror had to have a coherent theoretical system on diagnosing diseases and treating them. What Heo Joon regarded as the most important content, namely discrimination and distinguishment of the looks and symptoms of smallpox, was included in Treasured Mirror in the name of ‘Syndrome differentiation (辨證)’. There are not any specific Heo Joon’s medical case left today, so we do not know how much his smallpox medicine contributed to uplifting the cure rate of smallpox in reality. However, comparing the case in the Compendium of Smallpox to case recorded by later physicians such as Park Jinhee (朴振禧), Ryu Sang (柳瑺), syndrome differentiation proposed by Heo Joon was not only succeeded by physicians of later generations but also contributed greatly to the success in treating smallpox.
Heo Joon did not know about the pathology, causes of the smallpox, discovered by biomedicine. Even considering this, his medical contribution is clear. Based on the visible symptoms of smallpox and medical accomplishments of the previous eras, he organized and compactly proposed the causes, progression, distinguishing concomitant symptoms, treatments for symptoms development, etc. of the smallpox. In addition, in order to overcome the limit of simple symptomatic treatment, he entitled the chapter of medical thought of analysis symptoms ‘syndrome differentiation’ present in the previous medical books. It was the advent of Joseon’s edition of smallpox medicine based on syndrome differentiation.

The Emergency Medicine Recipes in Local Medicinals (鄕藥救急方, Hyang'yak Kugŭpbang) (c. 14th century) is known to be one of the oldest Korean medical textbooks that exists in its entirety. This study challenges conventional perceptions that have interpreted this text by using modern concepts, and it seeks to position the medical activities of the late Koryŏ Dynasty 高麗 (918–1392) to the early Chosŏn Dynasty 朝鮮 (1392–1910) in medical history with a focus on this text. According to existing studies, Emergency Medicine Recipes in Local Medicinals is a strategic compromise of the Korean elite in response to the influx of Chinese medical texts and thus a medical text from a “periphery” of the Sinitic world. Other studies have evaluated this text as a medieval publication demonstrating stages of transition to systematic and rational medicine and, as such, a formulary book 方書 that includes primitive elements. By examining past medicine practices through “modern” concepts based on a dichotomous framework of analysis — i.e., modernity vs. tradition, center vs. periphery, science vs. culture — such conventional perceptions have relegated Emergency Medicine Recipes in Local Medicinals to the position of a transitional medieval publication meaningful only for research on hyangchal 鄕札 (Chinese character-based writing system used to record Korean during the Silla Dynasty 新羅 [57 BC–935 AD] to the Koryŏ Dynasty). It is necessary to overcome this dichotomous framework in order to understand the characteristics of East Asian medicine. As such, this study first defines “medicine 醫”, an object of research on medical history, as a “special form of problem-solving activities” and seeks to highlight the problematics and independent medical activities of the relevant actors. Through this strategy (i.e., texts as solutions to problems), this study analyzes Emergency Medicine Recipes in Local Medicinals to determine its characteristics and significance. Ultimately, this study argues that Emergency Medicine Recipes in Local Medicinals was a problem-solving method for the scholar-gentry 士人層 from the late Koryŏ Dynasty to the early Chosŏn Dynasty, who had adopted a new cultural identity, to perform certain roles on the level of medical governance and constitute medical praxis that reflected views of both the body and materials and an orientation distinguished from those of the so-called medicine of Confucian physicians 儒醫, which was the mainstream medicine of the center. Intertwined at the cultural basis of the treatments and medical recipes included in Emergency Medicine Recipes in Local Medicinals were aspects such as correlative thinking, ecological circulation of life force, transformation of materiality through contact, appropriation of analogies, and reasoning of sympathy. Because “local medicinals 鄕藥” is understood in Emergency Medicine Recipes in Local Medicinals as referring to objects easily available from one's surroundings, it signifies locality referring to the ease of acquisition in local areas rather than to the identity of the state of Koryŏ or Chosŏn. As for characteristics revealed by this text's methods of implementing medicine, Korean medicine in terms of this text consisted largely of single-ingredient formulas using diverse medicinal ingredients easily obtainable from one's surroundings rather than making use of general drugs as represented by materia medica 本草 or of multiple-ingredient formulas. In addition, accessible tools, full awareness of the procedures and processes of the guidelines, procedural rituals, and acts of emergency treatment (first aid) were more important than the study of the medical classics, moral cultivation, and coherent explanations emphasized in categorical medical texts. Though Emergency Medicine Recipes in Local Medicinals can be seen as an origin of the tradition of emergency medicine in Korea, it differs from medical texts that followed which specializing in emergency medicine to the extent that it places toxicosis 中毒 before the six climatic factors 六氣 in its classification of diseases.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Ceremonial Behavior ; Classification ; Emergencies ; Emergency Medicine ; Emergency Treatment ; Far East ; Humans ; Korea ; Materia Medica ; Medicine, East Asian Traditional ; Methods ; Publications ; Thinking ; Writing

This study aims to examine how traditional medicine doctors (醫生) of the Japanese colonial period in Korea treated patients and their own diseases with traditional medicine (漢方) and Western medicine (洋方) by analyzing Clinical Cases (治案) and A Diary of Jaundice Treatment (治疸日記) of Kim Gwangjin (金光鎭, 1885–1940). Through this inquiry, this study aims to reveal that the Japanese colonial period was a time when the traditional medicine and the Western medicine coexisted, and that this period cannot be simply defined as a dualism between “Western medicine, Japanese colonial government” versus “traditional medicine, governed public.” Kim Gwangjin's main method of medical treatment was traditional medicine. Clinical Cases include over 60 treatment cases, and they illustrate that he was a typical doctor at the time using traditional medical knowledge. In addition, Kim wrote A Diary of Jaundice Treatment from January 1939 to July 1940, a month before his death. The disease that led to his death was jaundice. He examined the changes in his abdomen every day, and recorded the changes in edema in upper extremities and testicles, urine and feces. While the treatment that Kim used in the early stages of jaundice were herbal medicines, he was not confined to the boundaries of the traditional medicine as he studied Western medicine to obtain a license of traditional medicine doctor from Japanese colonial government. He took a urine test to confirm whether his illness was jaundice or kidney disease and had X-ray imaging to check for pleurisy at a Western medical hospital in Daegu. Furthermore, he received a procedure to artificially drain bile, took a medicine to excrete bile into the feces, and had injection to treat neuralgia. Mostly, it was diarrhea that bothered Kim, who had been suffering from jaundice. Preventing diarrhea led to edema, and removing edema led to diarrhea again. He managed his symptoms by stopping the herbal medicine treatments and going on a raw food diet. Around this time, Kim relied the most on Ejisan (エヂ散). Ejisan was a type of new medicine mixed with traditional medicine and Western medicine that had the effect of treating edema and digestive disorders. Kim personally manufactured and took the drug until a month before his death, praising it as a necessary drug to treat jaundice. Kim was a traditional medical doctor during the Japanese colonial period. He also had the conventional wisdom that Western medicine was excellent in treating surgical diseases but not effective in internal medicine. However, he used both traditional medicine and Western medicine to treat symptoms of jaundice that have not been treated well and created a new medicine called Ejisan, which combined the two types of medicines. For him, Western medicine was a new medicine that improved the wrong aspects of traditional medicine or the old medicine, but there was still a realm of traditional medicine that Western medicine could not intervene. Furthermore, he published a new theory of traditional medicine called the Principle of Up and Down (升降論), which incorporates some Western medical knowledge. The Japanese colonial government required traditional medicine doctors to study Western medicine, and traditional medicine doctors had to learn Western medicine in order to survive. In the meantime, traditional medicine doctors such as Kim have brought about new changes by integrating the two medical treatments in the clinical field. The Japanese colonial government planned the demise of traditional medicine by forcing traditional medicine doctors to study the Western medicine, but the unexpected achievement brought about by traditional medicine doctors, who survived longer than the Japanese Empire and the colonial government, was an attempt to integrate Eastern and Western medicine.
Abdomen ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Bile ; Daegu ; Diarrhea ; Diet ; Edema ; Feces ; Herbal Medicine ; Humans ; Internal Medicine ; Jaundice ; Kidney Diseases ; Korea ; Licensure ; Medicine, Traditional ; Methods ; Neuralgia ; Pleurisy ; Raw Foods ; Testis ; Upper Extremity