Yīfāng Shíjǐn 醫方拾錦
Picked Brocades of Medical Formulas by 田綿淮 (Tián Miánhuái, hào Hánjìnzǐ 寒勁子, fl. mid-Tóng-zhì era, Qīng); preface 1873 by 莫知之 (Mò Zhīzhī, hào Yúnyán 雲岩)
About the work
A mid-Tóng-zhì popular-clinical formulary in 4 juǎn, compiled by Tián Miánhuái (signing as Hánjìnzǐ 寒勁子, “The Cold-Tempered One”) in the literary-curated jīngyàn fāng (tested-formula) tradition. The title Shíjǐn (Picked Brocades) is a literary metaphor — the compiler gathers scattered formulas as one gathers loose embroidered threads to weave into a usable cloth. The work’s preface explicitly invokes the comparable Bǔyí (Supplements) tradition of Chénshì 陳氏 (presumably Chén Jiǎmó 陳嘉謨’s Běncǎo méngquán shíyí) and the Jǐnnáng (Brocade-Bag) of Féngshì 馮氏 (Féng Zhàozhāng’s Féngshì jǐnnáng mìlù 馮氏錦囊秘錄, 1702).
Prefaces
Preface by Mò Zhīzhī of Yúnyán 雲岩莫知之, Tóngzhì guǐyǒu 同治癸酉 yīyáng yuè yángshēng rì = 1873, 11th lunar month (yīyáng yuè), winter solstice day (yángshēng rì). Calligraphy by Wáng Fēngnián of Dàliáng 大梁王風年敬書.
The preface unpacks the title’s literary trope:
“Yīfāng shíjǐn — what is this work? It is the work gathered for amusement (shǐ wéi yóuyì) by Hánjìnzǐ. Shí (to gather) — what does it mean? It is to take from the east [side]. Why not say to take but say to gather? — Some formulas have been scattered-and-lost, some thrown away; mustard-seeds spread out, stars sown like nets in the world — but the world treats them with neglect. To take them mixed together and to gather them up — these all return to use; therefore it is called gathering.
“Jǐn (brocade) — what does it mean? Brocade is a flowery object: it means that what has fine patterns can be assembled in viewing to delight the eye. — The poems gathered are the flowery ones; one compares them to zhījǐn (woven brocade). The phrases adorned with pèi (pendant-ornaments) are these jǐnxiù (embroideries). — How is it that for yīfāng (medical formulas) of the flowery-and-ornamented kind, one cannot call it brocade?
“Therefore taking root in the QíHuáng, broadly inquiring in the hundred-houses, correcting where there is no error, searching out the hidden, what has not been able to be obtained — collected for convenience; the fine ones of the miǎnfāng (long-cherished prescriptions) are gathered into this compilation. Used well it is beneficial; used not well it is also without injury.
“Hánjìnzǐ has simply trained and pondered. Before seeking to have merit, he sought to be without fault — that much can be known.
“Chénshì had his Shíyí (Supplements), Féngshì had his Jǐnnáng (Brocade-Bag); Hánjìnzǐ has surely thoroughly understood their depths. The title Shíjǐn — I am not able to peer into the original meaning, and have offered this groundless interpretation; let it serve as a gather-for-amusement preface.”
Abstract
A precisely-dated 1873 popular formulary by Tián Miánhuái (hào Hánjìnzǐ). The work is organised by body-region, beginning with Tóufāng 頭方 (head-formulas) — recipes for dandruff, head-sores, head-eruptions, and so on — and continuing through the standard topical arrangement. The clinical content is the conventional late-Qīng popular-pharmacy mixture of běncǎo extracts, the cǎifāng (extracted-formula) repertoire of the standard formularies, and miscellaneous jīngyàn (tested) prescriptions.
The work’s principal interest is its literary-self-presentational framing: the preface-writer Mò Zhīzhī (of Yúnyán) — apparently a member of the same provincial-literati circle — interprets the Shíjǐn title as an explicit positioning of the work in the flowery-curated popular-formulary tradition (alongside Chén Jiǎmó’s Shíyí and Féng Zhàozhāng’s Jǐnnáng mìlù). The compiler’s hào “Hánjìnzǐ” (“Cold-Tempered One”) and the studio-name Yúnyán indicate the work’s late-Qīng wénrén (literati-gentleman) social context.
The 1873 Tóngzhì dating places the work in the immediate post-Tài-píng restoration period, when the popular-pharmacy printing industry was being re-established in the Lower Yángzǐ and Húbéi prefectural towns.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located. The work is briefly catalogued in the Zhōngguó zhōngyī gǔjí zǒngmù (2007).
Links
- See 田綿淮 (compiler) and 莫知之 (preface-writer).
- Cited cognate works: Chén Jiǎmó Běncǎo méngquán shíyí (16th c.), Féng Zhàozhāng Féngshì jǐnnáng mìlù (馮氏錦囊秘錄, 1702).
- 醫方拾錦 (jicheng.tw)
- Kanseki DB