Professor Mayanagi Makoto

Bencao jizhu: The 3 juan Edition and Excavated Manuscripts

Bencao jizhu CHINESE Collected Commentaries on the Pharmacopoeia, the text that laid the foundation for the mainstream of Chinese materia medica was edited by Tao Hongjing CHINESE (456-536), sometime around 500 A.D . On the basis of the Dunhuang CHINESE, Turfan CHINESE and Japanese editions of this book, we know that this work was widely distributed. However, with the circulation of Xinxiu bencao CHINESE Newly Revised Pharacopoeia, a materia medica compiled by Su Jing CHINESE at the imperial edict of the Tang government in 659, Bencao jizhu fell out of use and gradually disappeared. Despite serious scholarly debate about the number of scrolls and circumstances of the construction of Bencao jizhu, in the absence of original manuscripts, it was not possible to draw definitive conclusions. By throwing new light on excavated materials stored in Japan and other locations, this paper attempts to resolve the debate.