Japanese Herbal Medicine: The Healing Art of Kampo
This layperson's guide presents enough material to make a Japanese treatment method little known in the West understandable. Kampo, whose name is derived from the ChineseKan, "from China," andpo, "way," does not use acupuncture. Traditional Chinese medicine, Rister believes, requires the understanding of a complete philosophical system, whereas Kampo is simple, easily understood in the West, and indeed meshes well with much of modern Western medicine. Kampo is a "no-fault" method of healing that does not point the finger of blame at the patient. Keisetsu Otsuka, a twentieth-century Japanese physician, has done much to give Kampo scientific validity in the West. Rister provides a brief history of Kampo and a detailed account of specific herbs including descriptions, indications of the parts of the plants that are used, and reports of scientific findings and clinical experience. A major section shows how the herbs are used in specific diseases. Appendixes give sources of Kampo products and services.William Beatty