Traditional Korean Medicine - History

History

Korean medicine was originated in ancient and prehistoric times and can be traced back as far as 3000 B.C. when stone and bone needles were found in North Hamgyong Province, now in present-day North Korea. This is the oldest archaeological implement associated with acupuncture found. In Gojoseon, where the founding myth of Korea is recorded, there is a story of a tiger and a bear who wanted to reincarnate in human form and who ate wormwood and garlic. In Jewang Ungi (제왕운기), which was written around the time of Samguk Yusa, wormwood and garlic are described as 'eatable medicine', showing that, even in times when incantatory medicine was the mainstream, medicinal herbs were given as curatives in Korea. Moreover, the fact that wormwood and garlic are not found in ancient Chinese herbology shows that traditional Korean medicine developed unique practices, or inherited them from other cultures.

In the period of the Three Kingdoms, the traditional Korean medicine was being influenced by other traditional medicines such as Chinese Medicine. In the Goryeo dynasty with the influence of others like Chinese medicine, more intense investigation of domestic herbs took place, and the result was the publication of numerous books on domestic herbs. Medical theories at this time were based on medicine of Song and Yuan, but prescriptions were based on the medicine of the Unified Silla period such as the medical text First Aid Prescriptions Using Native Ingredients or "Hyangyak Gugeupbang (향약구급방), which was published in 1245.

Medicine flourished in the period of the Joseon. A book named “the Classified Collection of Medical Prescriptions” (醫方類聚, 의방류취) was also memorable. This work was written by Kim Ye-mong (金禮蒙, 김예몽) and other Korean official doctors from 1443 to 1445. It collects more than fifty thousand prescriptions from one hundred and fifty-two medical works of ancient China before the fifteenth century. It also collects prescriptions from a Korean medical book “the Concise Prescriptions of Royal Doctors” (御醫撮要方, 어의촬요방) which was written by Choi Chong-jun (崔宗峻, 최종준) in 1226. The book “the Classified Collection of Medical Prescriptions” has very important research value, because it keeps the contents of many ancient Chinese medical books which had been lost for a long time.

After this, many books on medical specialties were published. There are three physicians from the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) who are generally credited with the development of traditional Korean medicine. They are Heo Jun, Saam, and Lee Je-ma. After the Japanese invasion in 1592, Dongeui Bogam (동의보감) was written by Heo Jun, the first of the major physicians. This work further integrated the known Korean and Chinese medicine of its time and was influential to Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese medicine at that time.

The next major influence to Traditional Korean Medicine is related to “Metabolism Theory” or Sasang Constitutional Medicine (사상의학) . Lee Je-ma and his book, "The Principal of Life Preservation in Oriental Medicine" (東醫壽世保元, 동의수세보원) systematically theorized Metabolism Theory. Lee Je-ma realized that even if patients suffer the same illness, patients need to use different herbal applications to treat the same illness due to the different metabolisms of individuals. Sasang Constitutional Medicine(사상의학) or Four Metabolism Theory focuses on the individual differences of patients based on different reaction to disease and hearb. Treat illness by the treatment of the root cause through proper diagnosis. Key to this diagnosis is to first determine the metabolism type of each patient.

The next recognized individual is Saam, the priest-physician who is believed to have lived during the 16th century. Although there is much unknown about Saam, including his real name and date of birth, it is recorded that he studied under the famous monk Samyang. He developed a system of acupuncture that employs the five element theory.

In the late Joseon dynasty, positivism was widespread. Clinical evidence was used more commonly as the basis for studying disease and developing cures. Scholars who had turned away from politics devoted themselves to treating diseases and, in consequence, new schools of tradition medicine were established. Simple books on medicine for the common people were published. In the early nineteenth century, the Sasang Constitutional Medicine (사상의학) was written by Lee Je-ma, the third historical physician who developed much of traditional Korean medicine. Lee classified human beings into four main types, based on the emotion that dominated their personality and developed treatments for each type. The four types are Tae-yang, So-yang, Tae-eum, and So-eum.