Formulas · Reduce Food Stagnation 消食 · Yuchwi (類聚)

Grain Spirit Decoction

Goksin-tang

한글 곡신탕 · Pinyin Gu Shen Tang

穀神湯

Powdered; 1–2 don stirred into salted broth.

Composition 構成

Goga Gu Ya
穀芽 곡아 · Millet Sprout

160 g
Chief 君 cleaned and powdered, mixed with ginger juice and a little salt into cakes and baked dry — that is, millet sprout
Sain Sha Ren
砂仁 사인 · Amomum

40 g
Deputy 臣
Baekchul Bai Zhu
白朮 백출 · White Atractylodes

40 g
Deputy 臣 dry-fried
Gamcho Gan Cao
甘草 감초 · Licorice

40 g
Envoy 使 roasted

Total 280 g per packet (첩) · representative dosage — verify against source texts.

Received this formula from your practitioner? Amounts shown here are classical reference values — granule and prepared products differ. Always follow your prescribed dosage and directions.

Actions 效能

Opens the stomach so that food advances
Works through sprouted grain and three supporting herbs

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

Opening the stomach and advancing food (開胃進食)
Poor appetite without marked stagnation
The simplest appetite formula in the chapter

Biomedical correlates

Poor appetite
Convalescent appetite loss
Mild digestive weakness

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

開胃進食. 穀芽四兩(淨爲末, 入薑汁鹽少許, 和作餠子焙乾, 卽粟糵也), 縮砂ㆍ白朮(炒)ㆍ甘草(灸) 各一兩. 右爲末, 鹽湯點服一二錢. 《類聚》

Translation

Opens the stomach and advances food. Millet sprout 4 nyang — cleaned and powdered, mixed with ginger juice and a little salt, formed into cakes and baked dry; this is the sprouted millet; amomum, dry-fried white atractylodes, and roasted licorice, 1 nyang each. Powder the above; take 1–2 don stirred into salted broth. — Yuchwi 類聚 (Donguibogam · Naesang)

Clinical commentary 臨床

Four ounces of sprouted grain, prepared as food before it is used as medicine — powdered, mixed with ginger juice and a pinch of salt, formed into little cakes and baked. Then three herbs and nothing else. The name says what the tradition thought was happening: the spirit of grain, given back to someone who has stopped wanting it. For the patient whose appetite is simply gone rather than blocked, this is the gentlest thing in the chapter. — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.