that the Oriental view of cosmology, which is known as ‘yin–yang and the five
phases’ (see Chapter 6), was also introduced and adopted not only for the
theoretical basis of traditional Korean medicine (TKM), but also for the broad
spectra of social and political systems of the three kingdoms, and even for the
daily life of the Korean people as it was in China.
Due to its geographical location and developed maritime capabilities with
a naval force during the three-kingdom period, Korea played the role of the
cross-road culture between China and Japan. Several medical books of TKM
written by Korean authors of the Baekje, Shilla and Unified Shilla kingdoms
were sent to Japan, according to the Japanese historical literature, and valu-
able medicinal materials, the ox bezoars (ox gallstones orCalculas bovis),
were supplied to China for preparing various herbal formulae (Figure 9.2).
After the fall of the three kingdoms in Korea, the Koyo dynasty (AD918–
1392) succeeded them, and occupied the whole Korean peninsula. The
English pronunciation of Korea was actually derived initially from the
Kokuryo kingdom, and then the Koryo dynasty. The Koryo dynasty period
corresponded with the period of the Song, Jin and Yuan dynasties in China.
For the Koryo dynasty of Korea, and especially the Jin and Yuan dynasties of
China, very significant advances and mutual collaborations in traditional
medicines were made in both countries. In China, new theories for traditional
medicine evolved and were advocated by different groups of doctors who
formed their own schools, and many new herbal formulae were developed
and used for treatments of various ailments. In Korea, the metal printing
blocks were invented and used for various publications, and thus the easy
dissemination of TKM literature was possible. Also, theHyang Yak(indige-
nous herbal plant sources in Korea) were searched out and substituted for the
imported Chinese herbal materials being supplied to the public. There were
also improvements in the cultivation method of ginseng (Panax ginseng), and
further developments of the preparation methods of red ginseng for the
purpose of longer preservation. By developing these methods of ginseng culti-
vation, a number of tonic formulae could be prepared in both Korea and
China.
The Chosun dynasty (AD1392–1910) succeeded the Koryo dynasty and
occupied almost the same territory as the Koryo had on the Korean peninsula.
Its time period corresponded with the period of the Ming (AD1368–1644) and
Qing (AD1644–1911) dynasties in China. This time period also corresponded
to the Renaissance in the Occidental world, a period when the use and devel-
opment of modern medical technologies and chemical drugs, which differed
from those of the dark Middle Ages, began to blossom. In the Oriental world
in the period of the late seventeenth to the early eighteenth century, a new
medical theory on infectious diseases evolved and was advocated by a group
of medical doctors who were frustrated by the fact that the old, conventional
ways of therapeutic doctrine, based on the Shang Han Lun, which had been
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