Korean J Med Hist.  2023 Apr;32(1):203-239. 10.13081/kjmh.2023.32.203.

How Did the Clinical Medicine Progress during the Unified Silla Era: Installment of the Medical Education Center ‘Uihak 醫學’, and Its Effects

• OH C
• SHIN D

• KMID: 2542260
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.13081/kjmh.2023.32.203

Abstract

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.

Keyword

Uihak 醫學; Silla 新羅; Medicine of Silla dynasty; History of Korean Medicine; 의학(醫學); 신라; 신라 의학; 한국의학사