Belamcanda Decoction

Sagan-tang

한글 사간탕 · Pinyin She Gan Tang

射干湯

The Bogam carries two formulas called 射干湯; this is the 癰疽門 one, and the 聲音門 formula from the 仲景 lineage is registered as sagan-tang. The transcription prints 胃脘癕 for 胃脘癰 and 温服 for 溫服, normalized here. 一合 and 半合 are taken at roughly 60 g and 30 g.

Composition 構成

Jeokjagyak Chi Shao
赤芍藥 적작약 · Red Peony

10 g
Chief 君
Sagan She Gan
射干 사간 · Blackberry Lily

6 g
Chief 君
Chija Zhi Zi
梔子 치자 · Gardenia

6 g
Deputy 臣

梔子
Jeokbongnyeong Chi Fu Ling
赤茯苓 적복령 · Poria (red)

6 g
Deputy 臣
Saengjihwang Sheng Di Huang
生地黃 생지황 · Raw Rehmannia

60 g
Assistant 佐

生地黃汁, 1 hop of the fresh juice, stirred in off the heat and brought to one boil, approx: true
Seungma Sheng Ma
升麻 승마 · Cimicifuga

6 g
Assistant 佐
Baekchul Bai Zhu
白朮 백출 · White Atractylodes

4 g
Assistant 佐
Bongmil Feng Mi
蜂蜜 봉밀 · Honey

30 g
Envoy 使

half a hop of honey, stirred in off the heat and brought to one boil, approx: true

Total 128 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

Treats abscess of the stomach cavity
Cools the Blood and clears heat collected at the stomach mouth
Finished off the heat with fresh rehmannia juice and honey to restore the fluids

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

Abscess of the stomach cavity (胃脘癰) with hidden pain at 中脘
Alternating cold and heat like malaria, with scaled skin
Cough, retching or pus and blood spat up

Biomedical correlates

Not identifiable as a modern entity; the Bogam's abscess of the stomach cavity does not correspond to a named diagnosis
Epigastric inflammation with fever, the signs the chapter describes

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

治胃脘癰. 赤芍藥二錢半, 射干ㆍ梔子ㆍ赤茯苓ㆍ升麻各一錢半, 白朮一錢. 右剉, 作一貼, 水煎, 去滓, 入生地黃汁一合ㆍ蜜半合, 再煎一沸, 溫服. 《河間》

Translation

Treats abscess of the stomach cavity. Red peony, 2 don 5 fun; belamcanda, gardenia, red poria and cimicifuga, 1 don 5 fun each; white atractylodes, 1 don. Cut up, make one packet, decoct in water and strain off the dregs; then put in 1 hop of fresh rehmannia juice and half a hop of honey, decoct again to a single boil, and take warm. — Hagan 河間 (Donguibogam · Ongjeo)

Clinical commentary 臨床

A short, cool decoction with an unusual finish. Red peony leads at two and a half don with belamcanda, gardenia, red poria and cimicifuga behind it, and white atractylodes is the one drug looking after the stomach itself. Then the dregs are strained out and the fluids are put back: a hop of fresh rehmannia juice and half a hop of honey are stirred in and the decoction brought up to a single boil only, 再煎一沸, so that neither is cooked. Taking juice and honey in off the heat is how the corpus protects the parts of a prescription that heating would spoil, and the detail is worth keeping exactly as the leaf gives it. 胃脘癰 is the Neijing's category, diagnosed by a sunken fine stomach pulse against a full 人迎, with alternating fever, scaled skin and purulent spittle. It is a coherent syndrome in its own terms, but it does not map onto a modern diagnosis and should not be forced to — neither a gastric ulcer nor a subphrenic abscess accounts for the whole of it. **Persistent epigastric pain with fever needs proper investigation.** — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.