Bupleurum and Anemarrhena Decoction

Sihojimo-tang

한글 시호지모탕 · Pinyin Chai Hu Zhi Mu Tang

柴胡知母湯

The leaf abbreviates the added items as 入薑三, 梅二; 梅 here is 烏梅, registered as omae. The transcription writes 甘草灸 with 灸 rather than 炙, which is the corpus's regular form for the roasted preparation and is kept.

Composition 構成

Siho Chai Hu
柴胡 시호 · Bupleurum

6 g
Chief 君
Jimo Zhi Mu
知母 지모 · Anemarrhena

6 g
Chief 君
Changchul Cang Zhu
蒼朮 창출 · Atractylodes Lancea

4 g
Deputy 臣
Hwanggeum Huang Qin
黃芩 황금 · Scutellaria

4 g
Deputy 臣
Galgeun Ge Gen
葛根 갈근 · Kudzu Root

4 g
Deputy 臣
Jinpi Chen Pi
陳皮 진피 · Aged Tangerine Peel

4 g
Assistant 佐
Banha Ban Xia
半夏 반하 · Pinellia

4 g
Assistant 佐
Cheongung Chuan Xiong
川芎 천궁 · Cnidium

4 g
Assistant 佐
Gamcho Gan Cao
甘草 감초 · Licorice

2.8 g
Envoy 使

roasted (灸)
Saenggang Sheng Jiang
生薑 생강 · Fresh Ginger

—
Envoy 使

three slices
Omae Wu Mei
烏梅 오매 · Mume Plum

—
Envoy 使

two fruits

Total 38.8 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

Clears heat in heat malaria and miasmic malaria
Dries damp with atractylodes lancea where miasma is held responsible
Supplements with ginseng and Korean angelica once malaria is long-standing

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

Heat malaria (熱瘧), also called scorching malaria (癉瘧) or summerheat malaria (暑瘧)
Miasmic malaria (瘴瘧) from mountain and valley vapours
Long malaria (久瘧) with the origin qi already spent

Biomedical correlates

Malaria with predominant high fever
Febrile illness contracted in humid lowland conditions

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

治熱瘧及瘴瘧. 柴胡ㆍ知母各一錢半, 蒼朮ㆍ黃芩ㆍ乾葛ㆍ陳皮ㆍ半夏ㆍ川芎各一錢, 甘草(灸) 七分. 右剉, 作一貼, 入薑三, 梅二, 水煎, 淸晨服, 午前又一服. 久瘧加人參ㆍ當歸. 《節齋》

Translation

Treats heat malaria and miasmic malaria. Bupleurum and anemarrhena, 1 don 5 fun each; atractylodes lancea, scutellaria, kudzu root, tangerine peel, pinellia and cnidium, 1 don each; roasted licorice, 7 fun. Cut up, make one packet, add three slices of ginger and two mume fruits, decoct in water, take at first light, and take a second dose before noon. For long-standing malaria add ginseng and Korean angelica. — Jeoljae 節齋 (Donguibogam · Haehak)

Clinical commentary 臨床

One prescription for two of the chapter's named malarias, heat malaria and miasmic malaria, which is a wide indication; the composition answers it by combining a reduced Minor Bupleurum with atractylodes lancea and kudzu root. Bupleurum and anemarrhena lead at 1 don 5 fun, atractylodes lancea is there for the damp the chapter holds responsible in miasmic malaria, and kudzu root for the heat that will not clear by the surface alone. The dosing instruction carries the clinical point. Take it at first light and again before noon, both doses ahead of the expected attack — the same timing logic as the dew-steeped Sansa-tang and the bedtime Mahwanghwanggeum-tang, and a reminder that in this chapter the hour of administration is part of the prescription. Jeoljae's addition of ginseng and Korean angelica for long-standing malaria is the move the rest of the chapter makes as well: once malaria has lasted, the origin qi has to be supplemented at the same time as the evil is cleared. Uigam's warning in this chapter is the sharper version of the same point — in long malaria, clearing the Spleen and cutting the malaria without supplementing leads to deaths. — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.