Formulas · Clear Heat 淸熱 · Uihak Immun (醫學入門)

Bupleurum Restrain the Liver Decoction

Sihoeokgan-tang

한글 시호억간탕 · Pinyin Chai Hu Yi Gan Tang

柴胡抑肝湯

Cut and made into one packet, decocted in water and taken.

Composition 構成

Siho Chai Hu
柴胡 시호 · Bupleurum

8 g
Chief 君
Cheongpi Qing Pi
靑皮 청피 · Green Tangerine Peel

6 g
Deputy 臣
Jeokjakyak Chi Shao
赤芍藥 적작약 · Red Peony

4 g
Deputy 臣
Mokdanpi Mu Dan Pi
牧丹皮 목단피 · Moutan Bark

4 g
Deputy 臣
Jigolpi Di Gu Pi
地骨皮 지골피 · Lycium Root Bark

2.8 g
Assistant 佐
Hyangbuja Xiang Fu
香附子 향부자 · Cyperus

2.8 g
Assistant 佐
Chija Zhi Zi
梔子 치자 · Gardenia

2.8 g
Assistant 佐
Changchul Cang Zhu
蒼朮 창출 · Black Atractylodes

2.8 g
Assistant 佐
Cheongung Chuan Xiong
川芎 천궁 · Cnidium

2 g
Assistant 佐
Singok Shen Qu
神麴 신곡 · Medicated Leaven

2 g
Assistant 佐 dry-fried
Saengjihwang Sheng Di Huang
生地黃 생지황 · Raw Rehmannia

1.2 g
Assistant 佐
Yeongyo Lian Qiao
連翹 연교 · Forsythia

1.2 g
Assistant 佐
Gamcho Gan Cao
甘草 감초 · Licorice

0.8 g
Envoy 使

Total 40.4 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

Courses a liver bound by desire that has found no outlet
Cools the heat that the binding has generated

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

Living alone
Yin without Yang
with longing arising and mostly unfulfilled (獨陰無陽慾心萌而多不遂)
Alternating chills and fever resembling malaria (寒熱類瘧)
Constraint heat with irritability and cyclical fever

Biomedical correlates

Cyclical fevers with psychosocial stress
Irritability with heat sensations
Stress-associated febrile presentations

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

治寡居獨陰無陽, 慾心萌而多不遂, 以致寒熱類瘧. 柴胡二錢, 靑皮一錢半, 赤芍藥ㆍ牡丹皮各一錢, 地骨皮ㆍ香附子ㆍ梔子ㆍ蒼朮各七分, 川芎ㆍ神麴(炒) 各五分, 生地黃ㆍ連翹各三分, 甘草二分. 右剉, 作一貼, 水煎服. 《入門》

Translation

Treats one living alone, Yin without Yang, in whom longing arises and is mostly not attained, bringing on chills and fever resembling malaria. Bupleurum 2 don; green tangerine peel 1.5 don; red peony and moutan bark, 1 don each; lycium root bark, cyperus, gardenia, and atractylodes, 7 fun each; cnidium and dry-fried medicated leaven, 5 fun each; raw rehmannia and forsythia, 3 fun each; licorice 2 fun. Cut the above, make one packet, decoct in water and take. — Immun 入門 (Donguibogam · Buin)

Clinical commentary 臨床

This section is the clearest instance of a pattern that runs through the whole book — social circumstance named directly as the cause of physical illness, as it is for bleeding after a reversal of fortune and for palpitations after lost status. Here it is desire without an outlet, producing a liver bound and a fever that comes and goes. The premises about women's lives belong to the seventeenth century and are recorded as such; what the formula treats — constraint heat with cyclical fever and irritability — remains a recognizable presentation, and bupleurum with green tangerine peel and moutan is still how one would approach it. — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.