By Eric Brand

The other day PCOM Chicago instructor extraordinaire Brendan Mattison posted an interesting comment on my blog on herbs that enter the extraordinary vessels. Brendan was inquiring about the history and use of the phrase “yao yao,” literally “essential medicinals.” I had seen the term used before but it never occurred to me that people had compiled the lists of items that were designated as “essential medicinals” from Chinese materia medica texts to group them into their own category.

In Chinese materia medica texts, we often find phrases such as “Lian Qiao is a sacred medicinal for sores” or “Sheng Jiang is a sacred medicinal for vomiting.” Such phrases illustrate that these medicinals are particularly effective for the indications listed, and the phrase “yao yao (essential medicinals)” is used in a similar way. A quick literature search shows that the phrase yao yao shows up in a bunch of Qing dynasty materia medica texts and its use goes back till at least the Ming dynasty Ben Cao Gang Mu by Li Shi-Zhen in 1578 CE, and it also appears in the famous Ming dynasty text Yi Xue Ru Men from 1575 CE. To my knowledge, there is not a formal category of herbs that are recognized as “yao yao,” but the phrase is distinctive in the literature and by collecting herbs that are designated as “essential medicinals” for this or that disease we can gain insight into which herbs were traditionally regarded as remarkably effective.

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The Ben Cao Bei Yao (“Essential Materia Medica”), written in 1694 by Wang Ang, has a number of items that are listed as “yao yao.” This text was an important materia medica from the Qing dynasty and it remains the licensing exam standard for Chinese medical doctors in Taiwan. Below is a partial list of items that are described as yao yao (essential medicinals) according to the Ben Cao Bei Yao (as always, my translations are based on the terminology of the Practical Dictionary of Chinese Medicine by Wiseman and Feng):

Dan Shen- “essential medicinal” for gynecology

Cang Zhu- “essential medicinal” for wilting (wei)

Niu Xi- “essential medicinal” for strangury (lin)

Kuan Dong Hua- “essential medicinal” for cough

Gua Lou Ren- “essential medicinal” for cough

Fang Feng- “essential medicinal” for dispelling wind and overcoming dampness

Ze Lan- “essential medicinal” for gynecology

Ai Ye- “essential medicinal” for vaginal discharge

San Qi- “essential medicinal” for knife and club wounds

Huang Lian- “essential medicinal” for dysentery

Qu Mai- “essential medicinal” for strangury (lin)

Fu Zi- “essential medicinal” for yin patterns

Shi Jun Zi- “essential medicinal” for childhood illnesses

She Gan-“essential medicinal” for throat impediment and sore throat

Huang Bai- “essential medicinal” for wilting

Ku Lian Zi- “essential medicinal” for mounting qi (shan qi)

Tan Xiang- “essential medicinal” for rectifying qi

Zhu Li- “essential medicinal” for wind strike (stroke)

The above is a partial list, lots of fun stuff in there. When looking at historical materia medica texts, sometimes the indications are similar to our modern understanding and sometimes the old indications are quite different than the contemporary understanding.