Korean J Med Hist.  2024 Aug;33(2):259-298. 10.13081/kjmh.2024.33.259.

Important Drugs and Its Patterns during the Late Goryeo Dynasty -Obtain and distribution of Bupleuri Radix (柴胡) and Ginger(生薑)-

• LEE KR

• KMID: 2559117
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.13081/kjmh.2024.33.259

Abstract

This article deals with drugs obtain and distribution during the Goryeo Dynasty. In particular, I analyzed the case of ‘Bupleuri Radix(柴胡)’, which corresponds to ‘dot-ui minali’ as Idu(吏讀), an archaic Korean notation, and Ginger(生薑), which was intentionally introduced and cultivated in Goryeo.
Drugs of the Goryeo Dynasty can be classified into 5 types. Drugs that use the Chinese character name as the name of Goryeo were type A, drugs that correspond 1:1 with the archaic Korean notation to the Chinese character name were type B, and drugs that have the Chinese character name translated directly into the Korean name were type C. And although it were originally the foreign drugs, the drugs cultivated in Goryeo were Type D, and the drugs imported from foreign countries were Type E. Among these, types B and D are particularly interesting. Bupleuri Radix and Ginger discussed in this article were representative examples of type B and D respectively.
Looking overall, type B had the highest proportion, followed by type A. Type E was the next most common. On the other hand, type C and D were relatively small. However, regardless of the high or low proportion, these types coexisted and constituted the therapeutic drugs of the Goryeo Dynasty. In conclusion, during the Goryeo Dynasty, interest and use of local drugs, namely Hyangjae(鄕材), greatly expanded.

Keyword

Goryeo Dynasty; drugs obtain; drugs distribution; Bupleuri Radix(柴胡); Ginger(生薑); 고려시대; 약물 생산; 약물 유통; 시호; 생강