The Publication of Hyangyakjipseongbang and the Chosnization of the Chinese medicine

Lee, Kyung Lock

Abstract

This article explores the Hyangyakjipseongbang, which was published in 1433, in view of the Chosnization of the Chinese medicine. This study discusses the structure of combination between the Chosn medicine and the Chinese medicine by analyzing the process of publication, the transmission of the Korean traditional medical books, the diseases and the prescriptions of Hyangyakjipseongbang. Most prescriptions of Hyangyakjipseongbang had been collected from the Chinese medical books. And the editors of Hyangyakjipseongbang, Chosn medical scientists, made an intensive investigation into the Chinese medicine and reconciled the official names of the Hyangyak(Korean traditional herbs) with the Chinese herbs. With the acception of the Chinese disease system including gynecology and pediatrics, Hyangyakjipseongbang was similar to the Chinese medical books such as Seonghyebang and Seongjechongrok. So Hyangyakjipseongbang became a general medical book which aimed to treat all kind of the East Asian diseases with the Hyangyak. However Hyangyakjipseongbang was one of the famous Chosn medical books. This book was regarded as the revised edition of Hyangyakjesaengjipseongbang, which was published in 1399. The list of chapters, formation of texts of Hyangyakjipseongbang and Hyangyakjesaengjipseongbang were much alike, besides some sentences of two books were coincided. An important point is that new diseases were created with the Publication of Hyangyakjipseongbang. Various symptoms like jaundice and nonstop runny nose of the Chinese medicine were recognized as the diseases in Chosn, and the proper treatments should be needed. Even though the formation of Hyangyakjipseongbang complied with that of the Chinese medical books on the whole, Chosn medical scientists chosen the prescriptions and decided the chapter order. And some diseases of Hyangyakjipseongbang were related with the infectious diseases and diabetes which were rampant in the late Kory period and the early Chosn period. It's certain that the Chinese medicine was adopted in accordance with the real state and demand of the Chosn society. So it can be said that new diseases had been created with the acception of the Chinese medicine and chosen with the circumstances of the Chosn society. It was the way of the Chosnization of the Chinese medicine.