莎草根 Hyangbuja (향부자)

Original, read line by line 東醫寶鑑 · Tangaek — Decoctions vol. 3

1. 性微寒, 味甘, 無毒.

   Its nature is slightly cold, its taste sweet, and it is without toxicity.

2. 大下氣, 除胸中熱.

   It strongly descends qi and removes heat within the chest.

3. 久服令人益氣, 能快氣開鬱, 止痛調經, 更消宿食.

   Taken long it boosts the qi; it can free the qi and unbind stagnation, stop pain, regulate the menses, and further disperse undigested food.

4. 莎草, 其根上如棗核者, 謂之香附子, 又名雀頭香.

   On the sacho root, the parts shaped like jujube pits are called hyangbuja, also named jakduhyang.

   HomiclubHyangbuja is the tuber borne on the underground stem of nutgrass, dug from coastal sands and field banks. Each brown tuber is about the size of a jujube pit and densely furred with short hairs.

5. 二月八月採. 《本草》

   It is dug in the second and eighth months. 《Boncho (Materia Medica)》

6. 香附主氣分之病, 香能竄, 苦能降, 推陳致新.

   Hyangbu governs diseases of the qi aspect: being aromatic it can bore through, being bitter it can descend, pushing out the old and bringing on the new.

7. 婦人血用事, 氣行則無疾, 老人精枯血閉, 惟氣是資.

   In women the blood does the work, so when the qi moves there is no disease; in the aged the essence is dry and the blood blocked, so they rely on the qi alone.

8. 凡有病則氣滯而餒.

   Whenever there is disease, the qi stagnates and grows weak.

9. 故香附入氣分爲君藥, 世所罕知. 《丹心》

   Therefore hyangbu enters the qi aspect and serves as the sovereign medicine, though few in the world know it. 《Dansim》

10. 香附, 婦人之仙藥.

    Hyangbu is the divine remedy of women.

11. 盖婦人性偏多鬱, 此藥能散鬱逐瘀.

    For women's disposition tends to be one-sided and given to stagnation, and this medicine can scatter stagnation and drive out static blood.

12. 採得後, 以稈火燒去毛, 入石臼搗淨.

    After digging, the hairs are burned off in a straw fire, and it is put in a stone mortar and pounded clean.

    HomiclubSingeing off the hairs is still the first step in cleaning hyangbuja today.

13. 氣病略炒, 血病酒煮, 痰病薑汁煮, 下虛鹽水煮.

    For qi disorders it is lightly stir-fried, for blood disorders boiled in liquor, for phlegm disorders boiled in ginger juice, and for lower-burner deficiency boiled in salt water.

14. 血虛有火童便煮過則凉, 積冷醋浸炒則熱,

    For blood deficiency with fire it is boiled in dongbyeon (a boy's urine), which makes it cooling; for accumulated cold it is soaked in vinegar and stir-fried, which makes it warming.

15. 鹽炒則補腎間元氣, 用檀香佐香附, 流動諸氣甚妙. 《入門》

    Stir-fried with salt it supplements the original qi between the kidneys; using sandalwood as assistant to hyangbu is most marvelous for setting all the qi in motion. 《Immun》