Eagleherbs.com sells Chinese Medicinal Herbs. However, the “spirit” of our business is Kampō medicine (漢方医学 Kanpō igaku). This is what the Japanese call their version of Chinese herbal medicine (usually shortened to Kampo).
A list of 128 recognized Kampo formulas with links to Eagleherb formulas can be found here.
Theory
Japanese and Chinese physicians (like all good doctors) will pay attention to the chief complaints, the spirit of the patient and other signs and symptoms. For all Asian medicines, the tongue and pulses are usually examined. With these and other diagnostic tools, we determine the disease.
The wiki link to KAMPO is here.
In Kampo, the disease and the signs and symptoms determine which formula to use. After the disease is determined we can look at the symptoms and see if they are hot or cold, interior or exterior. These are the basis of yin or yang. That’s why we have the hot or not page.
In the modern Chinese method great importance is given to the Zhengduan (診斷 zhěnduàn- pronounced more or less like jun dwan) or a diagnostic pattern. This is unique to Chinese Medicine and must be determined by a highly trained clinical doctor. The organ diagnosis diagnosis in particular arguably has gained more importance in modern times while older texts generally did not have this as a primary diagnosis. Because this organ diagnosis is so particular it would make little sense for us to sell herbs directly to consumers solely based on “Spleen Qi deficiency” or “Liver overacting on Spleen” (to name a few common patterns).
For that reason, we have devised an on-line model that seems to work well for many people who have ordered from us. This model is much like Kampo.
History
The Japanese first incorporated Chinese Medicine way way back when.
From Wiki: Kampō medicine (漢方医学 Kanpō igaku?), alternatively shortened as just Kanpō (漢方?), is the study and further development of Chinese Herbal Medicine in Japan. The fundamental principles of Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) came to Japan between the 7th and 9th centuries.[1] Since then, the Japanese have created their own unique system of diagnosis and therapy. Japanese traditional medicine uses most of the Chinese therapies including acupuncture and moxibustion, but Kampō in its present-day sense is primarily concerned with the study of herbs.
Recently, the Japanese realized that they could integrate Kampo medicine into their health system and they did. However, only MD’s can now prescribe herbs and traditional herbalists have been left out. A shame, I believe.
This is from the Journal of International Medical Research written by F Yu, T Takahashi, J Moriya, K Kawaura, J Yamakawa, K Kusaka, et al
http://imr.sagepub.com/content/34/3/231.full.pdf+html
After World War II Kampo medicine, ushered in a new age in Japan. In 1967, the health insurance authorities began reimbursement for four Kampo drug formulae prescribed by doctors. Reimbursement was available for 147 formulae in 1987 and about 400 formulae in 2000. Thereafter, Kampo spread steadily and rapidly.
Below is a link to a rather long article concerning the complexities of evaluating Kampo.Evidence-based Reconstruction of Kampo Medicine: Part-III—How Should Kampo be Evaluated?
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC538517/
Katsutoshi Terasawa: Kampo agents, being herbal preparations, cannot only be regarded as ‘drugs’, but can also be seen as special ‘foods’, as exemplified by the famous Kampo slogan, ‘Foods and drugs, from the same origin’.