Hànyào Liángliè Jiànbié Fǎ 漢藥良劣鑑別法 / Kan’yaku Ryōretsu Kanbetsuhō
Method for Distinguishing Good from Poor in Chinese Drugs by 一色直太郎 (Isshiki Naotarō 一色直太郎, fl. 1910s–30s, 昭和)
About the work
The Hànyào liánglie jiànbié fǎ is a commercial-pharmacognostic manual produced by the early-Shōwa Japanese pharmaceutical trade. It is the revised second edition of Isshiki’s earlier Wa-Kanyaku ryōhi kanbetsuhō oyobi chōseihō 和漢藥良否鑑別法及調製法 of c. 1918, expanded by 170 substances and 135 pages. Isshiki’s own preface (signed 昭和四年六月 = June 1929) explains the rationale: the rapid expansion of the Japanese pharmaceutical industry and the academic interest in Sino-Japanese pharmacology has produced demand for a compact, accessible manual that the small-scale druggist can use at the counter.
The work covers approximately 380 substances. For each, the manual gives: the source-species and provincial origin, the commercial grades, the organoleptic criteria for distinguishing genuine from adulterated, and a brief processing note. It also includes succinct treatments of the standard pharmacological apparatus: the sānpǐn 三品 (three substance-grades), the wǔwèi 五味 (five flavours), the xiāng wèi / xiāng wù / xiāng fǎn 相畏相惡相反 (drug incompatibilities), and the shíjì 十劑 (ten therapeutic classes) — the standard didactic framework of Sino-Japanese pharmacology presented in compact reference form.
The work is in the same commercial-pharmacognostic genre as Zhèng Xiāoyán 鄭肖岩 and Cáo Bǐngzhāng 曹炳章’s Zēngdìng wěi yào tiáo biàn (KR3ec071) on the Chinese side, focused on practical drug identification rather than on theoretical pharmacology. It complements the more academically-oriented chemical and pharmacological studies of Kubota Seimitsu 久保田晴光 KR3ec079 and Nakao Manzō 中尾萬三 KR3ec083.
Prefaces
The local repository preserves the substance body. The frontmatter retains Isshiki’s preface dated 昭和四年六月 (June 1929) and editorial conventions.
Abstract
Isshiki Naotarō (一色直太郎, fl. 1910s–30s, no confident CBDB id), Japanese pharmacognosist. See his person note.
The work’s significance is as a representative document of the early-Shōwa commercial pharmacognosy genre — the practical manuals that mediated between the traditional pharmacopoeia and the modern Japanese-pharmacist drug-counter. The 1929 second edition appeared at the period of maximum overlap between traditional and modern Japanese pharmacy practice, before the 1937 Sino-Japanese war disrupted the Sino-Japanese drug trade.
Translations and research
- Marcon, Federico. 2015. The Knowledge of Nature and the Nature of Knowledge in Early Modern Japan. UCP. — long view of the genre.
- No modern critical edition; no Western-language translation.
Links
- Wikidata: not yet assigned.
- 漢藥良劣鑑別法 jicheng.tw
- Kanseki DB