Dongui Bogam

“Exemplar of Korean medicine”
Hangul	동의보감
Hanja	東醫寶鑑
Revised Romanization	Dong(-)ui bogam
McCune–Reischauer	Tongŭi pogam

The Dongui Bogam (동의보감) is a Korean book compiled by the royal physician, Heo Jun (1539 – 1615) and was first published in 1613 during the Joseon Dynasty of Korea. The title literally means “a priceless book about medicines of an Eastern Country”. The word "Eastern" is not the antonym to the Western World's 'Western', but Heo Jun gave the book such name because Eastern Country was one of sobriquets of Korea. The book is regarded important in traditional Korean medicine and one of the classics of Oriental medicine today. As of July 2009, it is on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Programme. The original edition of Dongui Bogam is currently preserved by the Korean National Library. It is expected to be translated in English by 2013. The original was written in Hanja and only part of it was transcribed in Korean for wide reading use, as only officials understood in Hanmun.

Known as one of the classics in the history of Eastern medicine, it was published and used in many countries including China and Japan, and remains a key reference work for the study of Eastern medicine. Its categorization and ordering of symptoms and remedies under the different human organs affected, rather than the disease itself, was a revolutionary development at that time. It contains insights that in some cases did not enter the medical knowledge of Europe until the twentieth century.

Work on the Dongui Bogam started in the 29th year of King Seonjo’s reign (1596) by the main physicians of Naeuiwon (내의원, “royal clinic”), with the objective to create a thorough compilation of traditional medicine. Main physician Heo Jun led the project but work was interrupted due to the second Japanese invasion of Korea in 1597. King Seonjo did not see the project come to fruition, but Heo Jun steadfastedly stuck to the project and finally completed the work in 1610, the 2nd year of King Gwanghaegun’s reign.

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