Ishinpō (醫心方,Ishinpō or Ishinhō) is the oldest survivingJapanese medical text. It was completed in 984 by Tamba Yasuyori (also referred in some sources as Tanba no Yasuyori[1]) and is 30 volumes in length. The work is partly based on aChinese medical work calledZhubing yuanhou lun (諸病源候論General Treatise on Causes and Manifestations of All Diseases), compiled bySui dynasty writerChao Yuanfang.[2] Many of the texts cited inIshinpō have been lost in China, and have only survived to the present through their inclusion in the work. It is anational treasure of Japan.[3]
The structural organization of the text is as follows:
TheIshinpō preserved more than 200 important medical documents that were all Chinese in origin and no Japanese sources.[1] The medical knowledge in the tome covered clinical treatments that drew from the ancient Chinese traditional medicine and influenced by Indian medical theories found inBuddhist scriptures as well asTaoist references (e.g. Taoist drugs).[1] For instance, there was the so-calledScripture on Pregnancy, which outlined the physical developments and fetal movements.[4] Scholars cite its similarity with a prescription from the old Chinese medical text calledTaichan shu, which contained doctrines about the development of embryo and fetus as well as proper hygiene for pregnant women.[5]
TheIshinpō is also notable for preserving some of theTaoist sexual manuals from the Han to the Tang dynasty. The twenty-eighth section of theIshinpō contains a complete transcription of a Daoist text known asSunü Jing (The Classic of Sunu) which is a dialogue between theDark Maiden and theYellow Emperor, with the former providing advice on sexual practices to the latter.
While the text is written inkanbun,Japanese terms are written to the side inMan'yōgana for plants, animals, and minerals.
A facsimile reproduction of the 1859 edition, 30 volumes in 2 hardback cases, plus a 270-page modern commentary, was issued in Tokyo in 1973.
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