Formulas · External Application 外用 · Yuchwi (類聚)

Yi Jageon's Demon-Slaying Pill

Ijageonsalgwi-won

한글 이자건살귀원 · Pinyin Li Zi Jian Sha Gui Yuan

李子建殺鬼元

虎頭 is registered under 虎骨, as 虎脛骨 is elsewhere on this site, with the part named in the prep. The transcription prints 𤍠 for 熱, given above in the standard form.

Composition 構成

Yeoro Li Lu
藜蘆 여로 · Black False Hellebore Root (toxic)

120 g
Chief 君

veratrum — a violent emetic, toxic
Hogol Hu Gu
虎骨 호골 · Tiger Bone (prohibited)

60 g
Deputy 臣

the head (虎頭) — tiger bone, a prohibited material
Unghwang Xiong Huang
雄黃 웅황 · Realgar

20 g
Assistant 佐

realgar — arsenic sulfide, toxic
Gwigu Gui Jiu
鬼臼 귀구 · Dysosma Rhizome (toxic)

20 g
Assistant 佐

dysosma rhizome, toxic
Cheonung Tian Xiong
天雄 천웅 · Tianxiong Aconite

20 g
Assistant 佐

tianxiong aconite, toxic
Jogak Zao Jiao
皂角 조각 · Gleditsia Pod

20 g
Assistant 佐

as 皂莢
Mui Wu Yi
蕪荑 무이 · Elm Fruit Paste

20 g
Assistant 佐
Bongmil Feng Mi
蜂蜜 봉밀 · Honey

—
Envoy 使

honey, as the binder

Total 280 g per packet (첩) · representative dosage — verify against source texts. Excludes 1 ingredient 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

Burnt one pill at a time and set at the head of the bed
Wards off pestilence and is said to kill every kind of demon and goblin

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

Pestilence (瘟疫) to be kept off
Heat disease and seasonal qi (熱病時氣)
Demons, apparitions and goblins (鬼魅魍魎) held responsible for the illness

Biomedical correlates

Prevention of epidemic illness — historical fumigation
Epidemic febrile illness, as a sickroom fumigant

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

辟瘟疫, 殺一切鬼魅魍魎. 藜蘆三兩, 虎頭一兩半, 雄黃ㆍ鬼臼ㆍ天雄ㆍ皂莢ㆍ蕪荑各五錢. 右爲末, 蜜丸皂子大, 熱病時氣, 燒一丸, 安床頭. 《類聚》

Translation

Wards off pestilence and kills every kind of demon, apparition and goblin. Veratrum 3 nyang; tiger head 1 nyang 5 don; realgar, dysosma rhizome, tianxiong aconite, gleditsia pod and elm fruit paste 5 don each. Powder the above and bind with honey into pills the size of a gleditsia seed. In heat disease and seasonal qi, burn one pill and set it at the head of the bed. — Yuchwi 類聚 (Donguibogam · On)

Clinical commentary 臨床

Three nyang of veratrum and a nyang and a half of tiger head carry this one, with realgar, dysosma, tianxiong aconite, gleditsia pod and elm fruit paste behind them, honeyed into pills the size of a gleditsia seed. The pill is not taken. It is set alight and left burning at the head of the sick person's bed, which puts the whole of its pharmacology into the smoke. The drug choice follows the name rather than the fever. Veratrum, dysosma and tiger bone are the Bogam's standard materials for driving off what it calls demons, and realgar is the mineral that belongs to the same work; a leaf that announces it kills apparitions and goblins is reaching for them in that order. Beside it, 熱病時氣 — heat disease and seasonal qi — is the actual occasion, and the method is to perfume the sickroom and keep something burning through the night. **Contains veratrum, which is a violent emetic and cardiotoxic, tianxiong aconite, realgar, which is arsenic, and tiger bone, which is prohibited under CITES. Burning any of these in a closed room is dangerous in itself and this must not be prepared.** — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.