KAMPO: A Clinical Guide to Theory and Practice

Kampo: A Clinical Guide to Theory and Practice provides an excellent overview of Kampo in modern society and goes on to present an historical perspective from practitioners in Japan and the west. The translation opens with Dr Otsuka’s personal reflections on how to study Kampo, the legal and practical status of Kampo practitioners when he began practice and includes clinical anecdotes. The book summarizes diagnostic theory and methodology then leads onto a section including 80 principal formulas followed by a therapeutic section organized according to allopathic definitions of disease. It follows a systems approach in internal medicine beginning with respiratory and cardiovascular disorders, moving through a comprehensive analysis of all the body systems. This section forms the heart of the text: it outlines essential clinical information on how differential diagnosis and formula selection is achieved with the Kampo tradition.

A comprehensive index of 120 major herbal formulas and 180 individual herbal ingredients is compiled from the author’s linage and experience . The translators have included an original piece of work in the form of a comprehensive Glossary of terms designed to clarify concepts of health and disease unique to Kampo and Japanese culture.

From the Foreword by Dan Bensky:

‘Readers who already have some basic knowledge of Kampo will gain a deeper understanding of the roots of modern Kampo, as well as information about diagnosis and treatment that come direct from the source….it is of great interest to have this example of an important book from mid-twentieth century Japan’