Yīfāng Gēkuò 醫方歌括
Rhymed Verses on Medical Formulas by 王泰林 (Wáng Tàilín = Wáng Xùgāo 王旭高, 1798–1862, 清)
About the work
The Yīfāng gēkuò is a 1-juǎn rhymed-verse formulary by Wáng Xùgāo, one of the Wáng Xùgāo yīshū liùzhǒng posthumous collection of 1862. Where its larger sibling Yīfāng zhèngzhì huìbiān gējué KR3ed087 follows the Lántái guǐfàn model of tōngzhì (broadly-applicable) formulas, this shorter work focuses on the classical-formula corpus drawn principally from the Jīnguì yàolüè with selective additions from the Shānghán lùn and the post-Hàn classical tradition (Sūn Sīmiǎo’s Qiānjīn yìfāng).
Prefaces
The source begins immediately with the first verse on Bànxià shúmǐ tāng 半夏秫米湯 (《Sùwèn》) for harmonising the stomach and treating insomnia. No separate dated preface is in the visible portion.
A few verses to illustrate the Jīnguì-centred focus:
半夏秫米湯（《素問》）和胃，泄衛通營治不寐。不寐由於厥氣逆，陽不交陰理須匯。
防己地黃（湯《金匱要略》）治獨語，桂枝甘草二防（防己防風）比。酒漬絞汁不用煎，加重地黃蒸汁濾。妄行獨語不肯休，二汁沖和服即止。
葶藶大棗瀉肺湯，肺癰不臥喘難當。不喘但咳胸皮錯，葦莖（湯孫思邈《千金要方》）桃(仁)薏(苡仁)瓜瓣良。
The verses’ selection — Bànxià shúmǐ tāng from the Sùwèn (Inner Canon proper), then Fángjǐ dìhuáng tāng from the Jīnguì, then Tínglì dàzǎo xièfèi tāng (Jīnguì), then the Wěijīng tāng of Sūn Sīmiǎo’s Qiānjīn yàofāng — illustrate Wáng’s commitment to the classical corpus broadly rather than to a single text.
Abstract
The 1-juǎn compass of the work indicates it is the most compact of Wáng Xùgāo’s rhymed-verse projects. Its functional position within the Wáng Xùgāo yīshū liùzhǒng is presumably as a classical-formula starter volume suitable for memorisation by early-stage apprentices, with the longer Yīfāng zhèngzhì huìbiān gējué and Tuìsī jí lèifāng gēzhù serving the more advanced curriculum.
Wáng’s verses are concise, doctrinally orthodox in the post-Yè SūzhōuWúxī tradition, and methodologically conservative. The work fits its pedagogical role faithfully without polemical ambition.
The dating window: c. 1850–1862, the last decade of Wáng’s life. The work entered print as part of the Wáng Xùgāo yīshū liùzhǒng in 1862.
Translations and research
- Wáng Xùgāo yī-shū liù-zhǒng (modern punctuated editions, multiple printings).
Other points of interest
Wáng’s choice of the Bànxià shúmǐ tāng — a Sùwèn formula and one of the very few non-Zhòngjǐng classical formulas in the canon — as the work’s opening verse is significant. It signals that “classical” for Wáng Xùgāo includes not just the Shānghán and Jīnguì but the full Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon-grounded formulary tradition: a slightly broader definition of jīngfāng than that adopted by the strictly Zhòngjǐng-focused jīngfāng pài of the same period (cf. Lù Màoxiū 陸懋修).
Links
- Wikidata: no dedicated entry.
- 醫方歌括 jicheng.tw
- Kanseki DB