The Seongho School's Study of the Ancient Learning and Its Influence on the Debate about Materia Medica in the Late Joseon Dynasty / 의사학

This study will determine the ways in which the ancient learning (gu xue) scholarship of the Seongho School, and its interest in the materia medica (ben cao xue) were related during the late Joseon period. The Seongho School centered its studies mainly on classical Chinese texts of the Han (206 BC-AD 220) and pre-Han (?-221 BC) (xian-qin liang-han) periods rather than those of the Tang and Song dynasties (618-1279). Gu xue scholarship emerged during the Ming dynasty era (1368-1644) as an alternative to the scholarly trends of the Song dynasty, which were dependent on Zhu Xi's (1130-1200) Neo-Confucianism and its interpretation of Han and pre-Han classical Chinese texts. This scholarly trend influenced Korean and Japanese literature, philosophy, and even medicine from the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries. Focusing on Korean scholarship, we find a great deal of research regarding the influence of gu xue on Korean classical Chinese literature and Confucian philosophy in the late Joseon period; however, no study has examined how this style of scholarship influenced the field of medicine during the same period. This study will investigate how the intellectuals of the Seongho School, who did the most to develop gu xue among Joseon intellectuals, were influenced by this style of scholarship in their study of the materia medica. Jeong Yak-yong (1762-1836), the representative intellectual of the Seongho School, did not focus on complicated metaphysical medical theories, such as the Yin-Yang and Five Elements theory (yin yang wu xing shui) or the Five Movements and Six Atmospheres theory (wu yun liu qi shui). Instead, his interests lay in the exact diagnoses of diseases and meticulous herbal prescriptions which formed an essential part of the Treatise on Exogenous Febrile Disease (Shang han lun) written by Zhang Zhungjing (150-219) in the Han dynasty. The Treatise was compatible with the scholarly purpose of gu xue in that they both eschewed metaphysical explanations. The Seongho School's interest in the materia medica stemmed from a desire to improve the delivery and quality of medical practices in rural communities, where metaphysical theories of medicine did not prevail and the cost of medicine was prohibitive.

YOSHIMASU Todo's Philosophy of Medicine:In Comparison with that in Ancient China / 日本東洋医学雑誌

YOSHIMASU Todo is one of the greatest practitioners of so called <I>Koiho</I> in the Edo era Japan. There have hardly been any studies, however, on his philosophy of medicine, even though it seems to be a significant background for his medical practice. Accordingly, I would like to consider Todo's philosophy of medicine called manbyo-ichidoku-setsu in comparison with that of Chinese.<BR>I first take up the Chin-shu chapter of the <I>Lu-shi chun-chiu</I>, which he recognized as the source of his theory, to see the philosophy of medicine of cosmic order, the “holistic total”. Then I'll take the other classics of traditional Chinese medicine to clarify their characteristics. Hitherto there has been lack of comparative exploration on Todo's notion with that of Chinese from the view point of philosophy of medicine.<BR>In comparison with that traditional Chinese medicine, we can assert that Todo learned traditional Chinese medicine with its philosophical background, and created further Japan's own characteristic Kampo medicine. Seeing respectively on these two points that are his analysis on each galenical, and his administrations of intensive drugs to reduce “poison” under his manbyo-ichidoku-setsu, we can assert that Todo really is one of the “fathers of Kampo medicine”.

IDAN·SEKI-IDAN / 日本東洋医学雑誌

The <i>Idan</i> medical monograph was originally written by Yoshimasu Todo (1702-73). Tsuruta Gen'itsu (1727-56), Todo's student, edited the first version. And after his death, his fellow student, Nakanishi Shinsai (1724-1803), revised and expanded the work, publishing it in 1759. Nakanishi claimed that this was the pioneering medical treatise penned by Todo, argued that it represented Todo's “original teachings, ” with playing up its sensational character.<br>There years after this book was published, Hata Kozan (1721-1804) wrote <i>Seki-idan</i>, severely criticizing Todo and Tsuruta's <i>Idan</i>. It ignited a raging debate, which divided the Edo period medical community in two. One side upheld Todo's <i>Tenmeisetsu</i> theory, which argued that the human life span was decided by the gods, while the other side opposed this premise. Horie Dogen's <i>Ben-idan</i>, Tanaka Eishin's <i>Ben-seki-idan</i>, Obata Hakuei's <i>Ben-idan-hyosetsu</i>, and Kaya Kyoan's <i>Zoku-idan</i> were published during the middle of this deflate. Here, I focus on the <i>Idan</i> and <i>Seki-idan</i> debate, and place this debate in the larger context of Edo period medical history.

The ‘Kenjuroku’: Clinical Case Reports by Yoshimas Todo / 日本東洋医学雑誌

The ‘Kenjuroku’ is a book of 54 case reports written by Yoshimasu Todo in 1763. The cases studies of four Buddhist monks (Gyokutan, Soboku, the director of Seikoji temple, and the son of the director of Shorakuji temple) from Toyama prefecture are described. Through an investigation of the biographies of these men, the authors attempted to determine the disease condition and symptoms present at the time of their meeting with Todo and inclusion in his book. These four cases were unique in that they appeared to have actively accepted Todo's new medical theories. This led to a discussion of the analogous aspects between his theories and the doctrine of Jodo-shinshu.