Traditional Korean medicine

Traditional Korean medicine (Hangul: 한의학, Hanja: 韓醫學) refers to the traditional medicine practices that developed in Korea. Traditional Korean medicine is popular in Korea and among Korean communities elsewhere. Traditional Korean medicine emphasizes perceived interactions within the body rather than functional mechanisms.

History

Korean medicine traditions originated in ancient and prehistoric times and can be traced back as far as 3000 B.C. when stone and bone needles were found in North Hamgyong Province, now in present-day North Korea. In Gojoseon, where the founding myth of Korea is recorded, there is a story of a tiger and a bear who wanted to reincarnate in human form and who ate wormwood and garlic. In Jewang Ungi (제왕운기), which was written around the time of Samguk Yusa, wormwood and garlic are described as 'eatable medicine', showing that, even in times when incantatory medicine was the mainstream, medicinal herbs were given as curatives in Korea. Moreover, the fact that wormwood and garlic are not found in ancient Chinese herbology shows that traditional Korean medicine developed unique practices, or inherited them from other cultures.