赤小豆 Adzuki Bean

Original, read line by line 東醫寶鑑 · Tangaek — Decoctions vol. 1

1. 性平一云微寒, 一云溫, 味甘酸, 無毒. 主下水, 排癰腫膿血.

   Its nature is neutral, though one account calls it slightly cold and another warm; its taste is sweet and sour, and it is non-toxic. It chiefly drains water and expels pus and blood from ongjong (癰腫, abscesses and swellings).

   HomiclubJeoksodu is the red adzuki bean, the annual legume behind patjuk porridge, patbingsu shaved ice, and the paste in bungeoppang.

2. 治消渴, 止泄, 利小便, 下水腫脹滿. 《本草》

   It treats sogal (消渴, wasting thirst), stops diarrhoea, promotes urination, and brings down the distension of sujong (水腫, water swelling). 《Boncho (本草)》

3. 消熱癰腫, 散惡血. 《本草》

   It disperses heat-borne abscesses and swellings and scatters akhyeol (惡血, stagnant blood). 《Boncho (本草)》

4. 小豆, 性逐津液, 主水氣, 脚氣方最要. 行水, 通氣, 盪脾之劑, 久服令人黑瘦枯燥. 《入門》

   Sodu by nature drives out the jinaek (津液, fluids), so it governs sugi (水氣, water qi) and is most essential in formulas for gakgi (脚氣, leg qi). It moves water, frees qi, and flushes the bi (脾, spleen); taken long it makes a person dark, thin, dry, and withered. 《Ipmun (入門)》

5. 入藥, 宜用早種色赤者, 晩種者力弱. 《本草》

   For medicine it is proper to use those sown early and red in colour; those sown late are weak in strength. 《Boncho (本草)》

   HomiclubThe passage sorts adzuki by sowing time. Korean growers still speak of early and late adzuki, and the old criterion of picking deeply red grains is recorded here.

6. 赤小豆陰中之陽, 解小麥毒. 《湯液》

   Jeoksodu is the yang within yin, and it resolves the toxicity of wheat. 《Tangaek (湯液)》