Dongui suse bowon written

Also called: Sasang medicine

Yi Je-ma wrote the Dongui suse bowon, setting out Sasang medicine, which divides people into four constitutions — Taeyang, Taeeum, Soyang and Soeum — and treats each differently.

Yi Je-ma, a military officer from Hamheung in Hamgyeong Province, held that the same illness shows itself differently, and must be treated differently, according to a person’s constitution. In the Dongui suse bowon, completed in 1894, he divided body and mind into four constitutions — Taeyang, Taeeum, Soyang and Soeum — according to the relative size of the internal organs, and prescribed medicines and regimens to suit each. This is called Sasang (four-constitution) medicine.

An original system that looked for the causes of illness in constitution and state of mind, it is counted with Heo Jun’s Dongui bogam among the great achievements of Korean traditional medicine. His disciples published the book in 1901, after his death.