Formulas · Invigorate Blood 活血祛瘀 · Immun (入門)

Cinnamon Twig and Safflower Decoction

Gyejihonghwa-tang

한글 계지홍화탕 · Pinyin Gui Zhi Hong Hua Tang

桂枝紅花湯

The source writes 芍藥 without specifying red or white; registered as white peony, which the Cinnamon Twig Decoction base supports.

Composition 構成

Gyeji Gui Zhi
桂枝 계지 · Cinnamon Twig

6 g
Chief 君
Honghwa Hong Hua
紅花 홍화 · Safflower

4 g
Chief 君
Baekjagyak Bai Shao
白芍藥 백작약 · White Peony

6 g
Deputy 臣
Gamcho Gan Cao
甘草 감초 · Licorice

6 g
Envoy 使
Saenggang Sheng Jiang
生薑 생강 · Fresh Ginger

—
Envoy 使

four slices
Daejo Da Zao
大棗 대조 · Jujube

—
Envoy 使

two dates

Total 22 g per packet (첩) · representative dosage — verify against source texts. Excludes 2 ingredients measured by count or used as a vehicle, shown as —.

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

Releases the exterior and moves the blood
Resolves heat entered into the blood chamber

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

Heat entered the blood chamber
Blood bound in the chest with an exterior pattern remaining

Biomedical correlates

Fever with menstrual disturbance
Pelvic inflammation with chest pain

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

治熱入血室及血結胸. 桂枝ㆍ芍藥ㆍ甘草各一錢半, 紅花一錢. 右剉, 作一貼, 入薑四片, 棗二枚, 水煎服. 汗出而解. 《入門》

Translation

Treats heat entered into the blood chamber and a blood bind in the chest. Cinnamon twig, peony and licorice, 1 don 5 fun each; safflower, 1 don. Cut up, make one packet, add four slices of ginger and two dates and decoct in water. Sweat comes out and it resolves. — Immun 入門 (Donguibogam · Han, lower)

Clinical commentary 臨床

Cinnamon Twig Decoction with safflower added, and that single addition changes the target without changing the method. Heat entering the blood chamber is the pattern where a fever coincides with menstruation and the heat follows the blood inward; Zhongjing's usual answer is Minor Bupleurum, which works from the shaoyang. This formula works from the exterior instead, keeping the original sweating mechanism and adding safflower to move the blood that the heat has gone into. The resolution the text expects is a sweat, not a purge — which is what marks it as a formula for the pattern caught early, before the blood has frankly bound. — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.