Jingfang School ⁽⁴⁾

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treats disease by following a step-by-step progression through the four levels of "principle, method, formula, and medicinal." The highest-level principle, put simply, is "reduce what is in excess, supplement what is insufficient," adjusting the body from a state of either "excess"…

Whenever a consultation was held on the ward, with sages gathered and masters aplenty, only Mr. Hu (Xishu) could stand against the majority. Not only was his pattern differentiation accurate without error, but his formulas—though a mere few herbs, unremarkable to look at—produced extraordinary and…

The Shanghan Lun (Treatise on Cold Damage) is one of the TCM classics; its full name is Shanghan Zabing Lun (Treatise on Cold Damage and Miscellaneous Diseases), comprising the Shanghan Lun and the Jinkui Yaolue (Essentials of the Golden Cabinet). Zhang Zhongjing's Shanghan Lun raised…

Dōmoto Kyūshin (汤本求真) was a leading figure of Japan's Ko-ha (ancient-form) school—what in China is called the jingfang, or classical-formula, school. He lived 1867–1941, and Ko-kan Igaku was completed in 1927. Once published, it spread widely through the Confucian cultural sphere of China, Japan and…