What Is Kanpo

What Is Kanpo? - Traditional Japanese Herbal Medicine Practice
Kanpo is a word that refers to a traditional system for herbal health science and herbal health formulas within Japan. This is actually an integral part of the way of life and the way of health throughout the country of Japan. Throughout the centuries, this has presented the Japanese people with a unique approach for using herbal formulas to improve health and well being. Originally, this science of herbal medicine was unknown outside of Japan, but now these herbal remedies and herbal teas are becoming increasingly well known throughout the rest of the world as the health benefits become glaringly apparent.

Kanpo

Kanpo is a modern system in Japan for herbal medicine practice. Scientists in Japan have spent the last fifty years working closely with doctors in order to apply modern testing methods to these medicines in order to validate their use. In this way, they have been able to determine which traditional herbal formulas are actually capable of doing the things that they were purported to do. Many different herbal formulas exist as part of this system, and the recent validations of their effectiveness have allowed their popularity to spread to other countries across the globe.

There are a wide variety of different herbs and herbal concoctions that are approved for use as part of the study and practice of Kanpo. This study of herbal medicine is essentially an adaptation of the traditional herbal medicine practiced in China. Four different herbal medicines were approved in 1967 by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare in Japan. Since then, numerous others have been approved. There are currently more than 150 different types of medicines offered as part of this traditional herbal medicine practice. As new traditional Chinese and Japanese medicines are validated, they are added to this list.

A leading creator of medicine in the Kanpo style is a company called Tsumura, which is responsible for making 128 of the currently-available medicines. The most common type of herb found in this medicine is known as Chinese liquorice root or Glycyrrhizae Radix, which is found in 94 different medicines. There are a number of other common herbs including Zingiberis Rhizoma which is ginger and Paeoniae Radix which is Chinese peony root. Each has different medicinal capabilities, and so these herbs are mixed into the medicines in different concoctions to treat a variety of different ailments ranging from the very simple to the very complex.