ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Ethnopharmacology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1584500
Mineral Medicines of the East: An Analysis of Records in Historical Chinese and Japanese Medical Texts
Provisionally accepted
- Soochow University, Suzhou, China
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Background: Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in China and Kampo medicine in Japan are important forms of East Asian traditional medicine, with mineral medicines as indispensable therapeutic agents. Modern use has declined due to toxicity concerns. Previous studies have mainly addressed toxicology, provided Japanese historical overviews, or examined single Chinese texts, with few comparative analyses spanning countries, periods, and diverse historical literature. Results: The “Prescription” category of historical texts was the primary source of mineral medicine data. Chinese texts recorded 106 mineral medicines, Japanese texts 100, with 97 shared. Using a cation-based classification, 16 categories were identified in China and 14 in Japan. The top three categories were the same in both, with slight ranking differences. Mercury- and mercury-compound medicines were selected for analysis due to high toxicity and frequent occurrence. Chinese texts recorded 189 conditions treated with mercury-based medicines, Japanese texts 98, with two unique to Japan. Six core conditions and twelve co-occurring medicines were common to both countries. Gypsum, frequent in both traditions and listed in modern pharmacopoeias, was also analyzed. Chinese texts documented 429 co-occurring medicines, Japanese texts 168, with minimal differences in core pairings. The top five gypsum-associated conditions were the same in both, though their order varied. Compared with modern pharmacopoeias, historical records showed broader and more detailed indications. Conclusion: Historical sources, mineral species, compound types, and frequently recorded medicines were highly similar between China and Japan, reflecting the absorption of TCM mineral medicine theory into Kampo. Differences such as higher sodium compound use in Japan suggest localized adaptation. Mercury-based medicines illustrate the value of classifying mineral medicines by compound type to identify overarching pharmacological trends. The comparison of gypsum between historical records and modern pharmacopoeias revealed a narrowing scope of application in the modern era. A large amount of knowledge in historical texts remains underexplored; examples of valuable future work include data-driven analyses of pharmacological effects and studies on medicine–condition associations.
Keywords: Mineral medicine, East Asia, Chinese-Japanese historical medical texts, mercury-and mercury-compound-based mineral medicines, Gypsum
Received: 28 Feb 2025; Accepted: 21 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Dai and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ding Wang, Soochow University, Suzhou, China
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