Yèshì yīàn cúnzhēn 葉氏醫案存真
Authentic Surviving Medical Cases of Yè by 葉桂 Yè Guì (Tiānshì 天士, 1666–1745), edited and prefaced by his great-great-grandson 葉萬青 Yè Wànqīng (1832).
About the work
A three-juǎn casebook of Yè Tiānshì compiled by his lineal descendant Yè Wànqīng (元孫 — great-great-grandson) from the family-archive manuscript materials that had not been included in the famous KR3ep010 Línzhèng zhǐnán yīàn (the canonical Yè-school casebook compiled by Huá Xiùyún 華岫云 of Wúxī in 1764). Yè Wànqīng’s preface frames the work as the “cúnzhēn” 存真 (preserved-authentic) supplementary record of his ancestor’s clinical practice. The work also incorporates appended cases of 馬元儀 Mǎ Yuányí, 祁正明 Qí Zhèngmíng, and 王晉三 Wáng Jìnsān (i.e. 王子接 Wáng Zǐjiē) — Yè’s Sūzhōu contemporaries — making it a partial sìjiā (four-master) compilation as well.
Prefaces
The hxwd _000.txt carries two prefaces:
- The Yèxù 葉序 by 葉萬青 Yè Wànqīng, dated Dàoguāng shíèr nián suì zài rénchén sìyuè (Dàoguāng 12 = April 1832), signed Yuánsūn Wànqīng jǐn xù 元孫萬青謹序. Yè Wànqīng describes finding “a family-preserved volume of cases, full of copyist-errors” 家藏方案一冊，魯魚亥豕 in a forgotten chest of papers, then comparing it with other family-retained Yè-school manuscripts (the 天元醫案 Tiānyuán yīàn seen at 周謝庵 Zhōu Xièān’s studio in Jiāqìng bǐngzǐ = 1816; the case-extract of 110+ cases seen at 陳順庵 Chén Shùnān’s eastern-suburb residence in Dàoguāng xīnmǎo = 1831). He explicitly refuses to edit by category, departing from Huá Xiùyún’s Línzhèng zhǐnán practice, and preserves the cases in their received order.
- A Shíxù 石敘 (preface of Shí 石) opening with the Sūn Zhēnrén 孫真人 framing.
Abstract
The text is methodologically significant in three respects. First, it provides direct family-lineage Yè-school transmission, by-passing the third-party editorial framing of the Huá Xiùyún 1764 compilation. Second, it preserves cases not in the Huá compilation — adding substantially to the documentary corpus. Third, by appending cases of 馬元儀 Mǎ Yuányí, 祁正明 Qí Zhèngmíng, and Wáng Jìnsān (王子接), it documents the broader Sūzhōu Yè-school clinical circle of the early-to-mid eighteenth century rather than Yè Tiānshì alone.
The composition window 1700–1832 brackets Yè’s original clinical work (c. 1700–1745) through Yè Wànqīng’s 1832 editorial compilation. Note: Yè Wànqīng was a yuánsūn (元孫 = great-great-grandson; literally “fifth-generation descendant”) of Yè Tiānshì.
Translations and research
Hanson, Marta. 2011. Speaking of Epidemics in Chinese Medicine. Routledge — extensive treatment of Yè Tiānshì and his casebook tradition.
Links
- Companion / parent Yè-school casebook: KR3ep010 Línzhèng zhǐnán yīàn.
- Other Yè-school casebooks in KR3ep: KR3ep009 Wèikè běn Yèshì yīàn, KR3ep013 Xúpī Yè Tiānshì wǎnnián fāngàn zhēnběn, KR3ep023 Méishòutáng fāngàn xuǎncún, KR3ep027 Yè Tiānshì yīàn jīnghuá, KR3ep080 Yè Tiānshì yīàn.
- Kanseki DB
- 葉氏醫案存真